A  CENTURY 


OF 


CONGREGATIONALISM 


IN  OHIO. 


REV.  DELAVAN  L  LEONARD,  D.  D. 


1896. 


^-^^.^ 


.^^^ 


Cduittbta  ©ntbersittp 


LIBRARY 


1796  — 1896. 


A  CENTURY 


OF 


CONGREGATIONALISM 

IN   OHIO 


BY 


REV.  DELAVAN  L.  LEONARD,  D.  D. 


Prepared  by  request  of  the  Executive  Covimittee 

of  the 

Ohio  Home  Missionary  Society. 


OBERLIN,  o. 


PEARCE   &   RANDOLPH, 

OBERLIN,    O. 


L5  5"Z 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 
Preface jv 

I.  Congregational   Principles I 

II.  Origin  and  History q 

III.  Evolution  of  Principles -j 

IV.  The  Situation  in  1796 12 

V.  The  Genesis  of  Ohio 16 

VI.     The  Days  of  the  Pioneers 22 

In  Southeast  Ohio 23 

In  Southwest  and  Central  Ohio 25 


On  the  Western  Reserve  . 


29 


In  Newest  Ohio ^2 

Those  Days  of  Homespun -54 

VII.     The  Mischievous  Plan  of  Union 35 


How  the  Plan  came  to  be. 


37 


The  Workings  of  the   Plan ^g 

VIII.     The  Times  of  Tempest ^e 

IX.      Oberlin's  Contribution eo 

X.     Phases  of  Early  Religious  Life 56 

XL     The  Dawn  of  Better  Days 6-3 


XII.     Our  Welsh   Churches. 


74 


XHI.     Recent  Development yg 

XIV.     What  of  the  Second  Century? 83 

XV.     How  to  make  this  Centenary  Memorable 90 

The  Home  Missionary  Situation go 


Our  Four-Fold   Work  , 


XVI.      Statistical  Table 
Index 


93 
95 
96 


PREFACE. 

We  cannot  at  all  afford  to  suffer  the  anniversaries  of  great  events  to  pass 
by  without  careful  observance.  They  bring  so  much  of  peculiar  privilege  and 
opportunity,  so  much  also  of  especial  responsibility  and  obligation.  It  is  the 
part  of  the  highest  wisdom  to  use  them  to  the  utmost,  both  for  instruction  and 
exhortation,  for  encouragement  and  warning.  They  supply  fit  occasions  for 
reminiscence  and  forecast,  they  help  us  so  to  sum  up  and  set  forth  the  past  as  to 
send  us  forward  v.ith  new  inspiration  and  added  increments  of  spiritual  power. 
In  particular  this  centennial  year  demands  wide  spread  and  varied  celebration 
in  our  churches.  For  it  recalls  one  of  the  notable  events  in  the  progress  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God  in  this  land,  and  one  of  the  most  momentous  in  the  history 
of  our  denomination  It  not  only  marks  the  beginning  of  civilization^  of 
democracy,  of  Christianity  in  the  entire  Northwest  from  Pennsylvania  to  the 
Pacific,  but  it  stands  for  the  founding  of  the  mother  Congregational  church  in 
a  vast  region  which  already  contains  fully  half  of  our  ecclesiastical  inheritance. 
Our  center  of  population  is  steadily  moving  westward,  is  likely  soon  to  cross 
the  Mississippi;  and  already  not  Boston,  but  Chicago  is  the  metropolis  of  our 
Zion. 

With  wise  prescience,  three  years  since  our  State  Association  began  prep- 
aration by  choosing  a  committee  to  act  with  a  similar  committee  appointed  by 
the  Ohio  Church  History  Society  in  preparing  a  suitable  program  for  a  cele- 
bration worthy  of  the  unique  occasion.  The  result  appeared  a  few  days  ago 
when  in  Marietta,  at  a  joint  meeting  of  the  two  bodies,  were  read  a  noble  list 
of  papers  upon  appropriate  themes.  Besides,  at  their  meetings  during  the 
weeks  just  preceding,  the  various  local  Conferences  gave  marked  prominence 
to  centennial  topics.  In  the  meantime  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Ohio 
Home  Missionary  Society  had  been  diligently  considering  how  so  "  to  keep 
the  feast"  that  a  much  needed  quickening  might  come  to  our  spiritual  life  as 
a  denomination,  especially  as  touching  zeal  and  giving  and  toil  in  behalf  of  ag- 
gressive operations,  and  pushing  of  our  ideas  and  principles  in  localities  where 
they  are  wholly  unknown.  It  seemed  to  be  every  way  desirable  that  from  the 
Association  and  the  Conferences,  to  every  church  and  congregation  in  the 
state  the  inspiring  and  educating  influences  of  the  centenary  should  be  car- 
ried by  addresses  of  various  kinds,  which  should  tell  the  story  of  our  origin 
and  growth  in  this  commonwealth,  the  experiences  through  whicli  our  fathers 
passed,  what  achievemenis  have  been  made,  and  what  still  remains  to  be  done. 
And  to  bring  this  desirable  consummation  to  pass  the  more  easily  and  effectu- 
ally it  was  thought  that  an  outline  history  of  the  century  of  Congregational- 
ism in  Ohio  was  a  leal  desideratiini. 


Preface.  V 

By  a  strange  chance  (providence,  that  is)  in  1887-8,  soon  after  his  ar- 
rival in  the  state,  under  the  conscious  impulse  of  nothing  more  definite  than 
a  historic  instinct,  the  writer  had  gone  thoroughly  over  the  field  of  our  de- 
nominational genesis  and  exodus  in  Ohio,  consulting  all  the  authorities,  and 
treasuring  up  the  results  in  a  mass  of  notes  which  were  laid  aside  with  no 
thought  of  any  further  use.  And  lo,  now  the  opportunity  had  come  to  put 
them  to  service.  The  Executive  Committee  requested  that  this  material  be 
arranged  and  prepared  for  publication,  offering  to  secure  the  funds  required 
for  printing  outside  of  the  treasury  of  the  Home  Missionary  Society.  These 
pages  are  the  outcome.  But,  though  issued  under  such  request  and  author- 
ization, it  should  nevertheless  be  understood  that  the  Committee  are  not  in 
the  least  responsible  for  the  contents  of  this  pamphlet.  No  word  of  sugges- 
tion was  ottered.  The  opinions  and  convictions  expressed  belong  wholly  to 
the  writer.  Whatever  faults  appear  are  chargeable  to  him  alone.  It  will  also 
doubtless  be  observed  that  what  is  here  presented  is  not  "pure"  history,  but 
is  rather  history  written  with  a  purpose,  or  designed  for  a  particular  use. 
While  accuracy  and  judicial  fairness  have  been  carefully  sought,  the  centen- 
nial year  was  constantly  in  mind,  and  a  style  sermonic  and  even  hortatory 
was  not  deemed  out  of  place,  in  order  the  more  to  stir  the  minds  and  hearts 
of  the  reader  to  appreciate  our  ecclesiastical  inheritance,  and  to  love  our  prin- 
ciples and  fundamental  ideas.  And,  since  these  pages  are  designed  for  the 
people  as  well  as  for  the  pastors,  it  was  not  considered  to  be  necessary  always 
to  maintain  a  style  dignified  and  stately.  And  finally,  let  it  be  remembered 
that  the  work  has  been  performed  under  the  pressure  of  great  haste.  Should 
inelegancies  and  infelicities  of  expression  occasionally  appear,  or  even  inac- 
curacies of  statement,  this  fact  may  render  them  somewhat  less  blameworthy. 

It  would  be  a  serious  omission  if  two  names  in  particular  were  not  men- 
tioned among  efficient  helpers  in  the  performance  of  this  labor  of  love.  Pro- 
fessor A.  S.  Root,  librarian  of  Oberlin  College,  repeatedly  offered  fullest  and 
freest  access  to  the  ample  literary  treasures  under  his  care,  aiding  materially 
also  in  searching  for  stores  of  information  hidden  in  divers  obscure  out-of-the 
way  places.  And  Dr.  J.  G.  Fraser,  whose  mind,  after  ten  years  of  observa- 
tion and  research  as  secretary  of  the  Ohio  Home  Missionary  Society,  has  be- 
come a  very  thesaurus  of  accurate  knowledge  concerning  the  condition  of 
our  Ohio  Israel,  upon  the  least  hint  of  desire  has  poured  out  facts  and  figures 
in  lavishr  abundance. 

No  attempt  will  be  made  to  name  all  the  authorities  which  contain  the 
material  out  of  which  a  history  of  Congregationalism  in  Ohio  must  be  fash- 
ioned. Records  of  the  older  churches  to  the  number  of  nearly  two  score 
have  been  consulted,  with  historical  addresses  and  church  manuals  in  much 
greater  number.  The  files  of  the  Ohio  Observer  and  the  Oberlin  Evangelist 
are  indispensable  to  the  historian,  especially  whenever  he  desires  to  behold 
both  the  Oberlin  and  the  anti-Oberlin  side  of  things.  Kennedy's  Plan  of 
Union  is  a  classic,  only  needing  to  be  taken  with  the  caustic  pamphlet  of 
Pi"ofessor  Henry  Cowles  written  in  reply.     The   Minutes  of  the  Ohio  State 


vi  Congregationalism  in  Ohio. 

Association  are  another  rich  mine  of  historical  matter,  as  well  as  the  records 
of  the  Association  of  the  Western  Reserve,  and  of  the  Lorain  County  Asso- 
ciation. The  six  volumes  of  papers  published  by  the  Ohio  Church  History 
Society  are  filled  with  the  annals  of  churches,  conferences,  and  religious 
movements,  and  cannot  be  spared.  Punchard's  History  of  Congregationalism 
contains  a  valuable  chapter  (V  ;  167-222),  and  Gillett's  History  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  (II  ;  1 17-154).  Walker's  Creeds  and  Platforms  of  Congre- 
gationalism, and  his  History  of  Congregationalism,  are  helps  of  great  value, 
as  well  as  Dunning's  Congregationalism  in  America.  Besides  these,  the  in- 
vestigator needs  to  consult  various  articles  published  during  the  fifties  and 
sixties  in  the  Congregational  Quarterly,  the  Congregational  Review,  and  the 
New  Englander.  Nor  must  Moore's  History  of  Huron  Presbytery  be  passed 
by,  which,  with  fulness  of  information  and  a  sufficiency  of  candor,  gives  the 
Presbyterian  view  of  the  ecclesiastical  happenings  during  the  Times  of  Tem- 
pest. D.  L.  L. 
Oberlin,  May  2^,  iSgb. 


Errata.  By  an  unaccountable  ovei'sight,  on  page  26  the  date  of  the 
founding  of  Austinburg  Church  is  given  as  1802,  instead  of  1801  as  it  should 
be,  and  so  in  the  same  sentence  the  date  of  Hudson  also  is  put  one  year  too 
late. 

On  page  28  Hartford  Church  among  others  is  said  to  be  extinct,  whereas 
it  still  survives,  though  under  the  name  of  Croton. 


A  CENTURY  OF 

CONGREGATIONALISM  IN  OHIO. 
i79e-i89e. 


CONGREGATIONAL  PRINCIPLES. 

Congregationalism  is  the  democratic  form  of  church 
order  and  government.  It  derives  its  name  from  the  promi- 
nence which  it  gives  to  the  congregation  of  Christian  be- 
lievers. It  vests  all  ecclesiastical  power  in  the  associated 
brotherhood  of  each  local  church,  as  an  independent  body. 
But  at  the  same  time  it  recognizes  a  sacred  bond  of  fellow- 
ship between  these  churches  ;  differing  thus  widely  from  In- 
dependency, which  so  affirms  the  seat  of  ecclesiastical  pow- 
er to  reside  in  the  brotherhood  as  to  ignore  any  check,  even 
of  advice,  upon  its  action. 

FREEDOM    OF   ASSOCIATION. 

I.  Any  company  of  people  believing  themselves  to  be, 
and  publicly  professing  themselves  to  be  Christians,  asso- 
ciated by  voluntary  compact,  on  gospel  principles,  for  Chris- 
tian work  and  worship,  is  a  true  church. 

EQUAL   MEMBERSHIP   RIGHTS. 

II.  Every  member  of  such  a  church  has  equal  essen- 
tial rights,  powers  and  privileges  with  every  other  (even  the 
minister  being  not  set  to  lord  it  over  God's  heritage)  ;  and 


2  Congregationalism  in  Ohio. 

the  membership,  by  a  majority  vote,  have  the  right  and  duty 
of  choosing  all  necessary  officers,  of  admitting,  dismissing 
and  disciplining  their  own  members,  and  of  transacting  all 
other  appropriate  business. 

INDEPENDENT  CHURCH    GOVERNMENT. 

III.  Every  such  church  is  independent  of  any  outward 
jurisdiction  and  control,  being  answerable  directly  and  only 
to  Christ,  its  head  ;  and  every  church  is  on  a  level  of  inher- 
ent genuineness,  dignity  and  authority  with  every  other 
church  on  earth. 

FRATERNAL  CHURCH  FELLOWSHIP. 

IV.  Intimate  fellowship  should  be  maintained  among ^ 
churches  by  means  of  conferences,  associations,  and  the  like  ; 
and    when  serious  difficulties  arise,  or  specially  important 
matters  claim  decision,  the  advice  of  other  churches  should 
be  sought  in  councils. 

CONDITION  OF    MEMBERSHIP. 

V.  A  credible  profession  of  faith  in  Christ  is  held  to 
be  the  sole  condition  of  membership  and  communion.  Per- 
fect agreement  in  details  of  doctrine  and  practice  is  not  re- 
quired, and  while  none  but  true  Christians  should  be  admit- 
ted, it  is  not  desired  that  any  true  Christian  shall  be  ex- 
cluded. 

CHRISTIAN  UNION. 

VI.  As  a  distinctive  trait  the  Congregational  system 
exalts  that  which  is  more  above  that  which  is  less  import- 
ant, and  by  the  simplicity  of  its  organization  facilitates,  in 
communities  where  the  population  is  limited,  the  union  of 
all  true  believers  in  one  church.  Desiring  to  be  free  from 
any  narrow  sectarianism,  and  insisting  upon  no  denomina- 
tional peculiarities  as  the  condition  of  membership,  church 
fellowship  is  offered  to  all  who  acknowledge  Christ. 


Congregational  Principles.  3 

The  following  utterance  of  the  National  Council  of  Con- 
gregational Churches  held  in  1895  ^^^^^  represents  the  convic- 
tions and  longings  of  the  denomination  : 

We  propose  to  other  Protestant  evangelical  churches  a  union  based  on 
I.     The  acceptance  of  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  in- 
spired by  the    Holy  Ghost  to  be  the  only  authoritative  revelation  of  God  to 
man. 

Z-  Discipleship  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  divine  Lord  and  Savior  and  the 
teacher  of  the  world. 

3.  The  Church  of  Christ,  which  is  his  body,  whose  great  mission  it  is  to 
preach  his  gospel  to  the  world. 

4.  Liberty  of  conscience  in  the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures  and  in 
the  administration  of  the  church. 

Such  an  alliance  of  the  churches  should  have  regular  meetings  of  their 
representatives  and  should  have  for  its  objects  among  others  : 

1.  Mutual  acquaintance  and  fellowship. 

2.  Co-operation  in  foreign  and  domestic  missions. 

3.  The  prevention  of  rivalries  between  competing  churches  in  the  same 
field. 

And  whereas  it  cannot  be  expected  that  there  shall  be  a  speedy  corporate 
union  of  the  numerous  bodies  into  which  the  Christian  Church  of  our  own 
land  is  divided,  we  do,  therefore,  desire  that  their  growing  spiritual  unity 
should  be  made  manifest  by  some  form  of  federation,  which  shall  express  to 
the  world  their  common  purpose  and  confession  of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  and 
which  shall  have  for  its  object  to  make  visible  their  fellowship,  to  remove 
misunderstandings  and  to  aid  their  consultations  in  establishing  the  kingdom 
of  God  in  the  world;  and  to  this  end  we  invite  correspondence  with  other 
Christian  bodies. 

These  two  additional  statements  present  the  same  fund- 
amental principles  of  this  form  of  church  polity  in  a  more 
popular  way.  The  first  one  is  borrowed  from  the  Congrega- 
tionalist  Handbook  for  1895,  and  answers  the  question, 
For  what  does  Congregationalism  stand  .^ 

Perhaps  the  best  Scripture  motto  for  Congregationalism  is  the  text:  "  One 
is  your  Master,  even  f^hrist,  and  all  ye  are  brethren."  The  basal  principle 
of  our  denominational  polity  is  the  absolute  equality  of  all  believers  under 
the  headship  of  Jesus  Christ.  Our  polity  proceeds  on  the  assumption  that 
when  the  Spirit  of  God  touches  a  man,  and  he  passes  through  that  experience 
termed  the  new  birth,  he  at  once  takes  his  place  beside  his  fellow-believers. 
None  of  them  has  a  right  to  lord  it  over  him,  nor  he  over  them.  To  the  end 
of  greater   efficiency   in   carrying    forward   Christ's  work,  Congregationalists 


4  Coiigregationalisvi  in  Ohio. 

may  delegate  to  one  or  more  of  their  number  certain  special  functions,  but  the 
power  to  select  their  officers  and  give  them  their  proper  functions  rests  with 
the  churches  and  not  with  any  hierarchical  or  priestly  order  over  the  churches. 
The  minister  gets  whatever  special  standing  and  recognition  he  has  from  his 
fellow-believers,  who  alone,  we  think,  have  a  right  to  set  apart  to  this  office 
those  who  seem  to  be  called  of  God  to  serve  their  brethren  in  this  way.  As  in- 
dividual Christians  inevitably  gravitate  together  and  form  a  local  church,  so 
churches  obey  the  same  law  and  associate  themselves  in  conferences  and  coun- 
cils. But  here  again  the  paramount  principle  obtains.  None  of  the  associat- 
ed churches  has  any  prerogatives  over  the  others.  Deference  may  be  and  is 
paid  to  the  judgment  and  advice  of  the  sister  churches,  but  they  have  no  pow- 
er to  order  any  particular  course  in  the  internal  affairs  of  a  local  church. 

At  first  it  might  seem  as  if  the  possession  of  such  a  measure  of  independ- 
ence by  every  individual  might  lead  to  differences,  and  might  militate  against 
good  order  and  united  action  ;  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  Congregationalists  do 
work  together  with  as  little  friction  and  with  as  large  results  as  are  to  be  found 
in  any  denomination.  What  saves  them  from  disunion,  both  in  the  local 
church  and  in  their  relations  as  churches,  is  the  fact  that  every  Congregation- 
ist  submits  himself,  or  is  supposed  to  submit  himself,  to  the  leadership  of 
Christ  through  his  Spirit. 

And  the  other,  from  the  Advance  Ahnanac  for  1896,  is 
a  setting  forth  of,  Our  PoHty  : 

Congregationalism  is  neither  an  experiment  nor  a  spent  force.  It  is  a 
living  fact  and  a  polity  to  be  preached  everywhere  that  the  gospel  is  heard. 
Its  adherents  believe  in  the  new  birth,  and  then  in  the  fruits  of  rightousness. 
They  preach  repentance  toward  God,  and  faith  in  his  divine  Son,  Jesus  Christ. 

A  Congregational  church  is  a  union  church,  associated  with  other  union 
churches.  It  is  an  independent  church  co-operating  with  other  independent 
churches.  It  is  a  kingdom  within  itself,  acknowledging  only  Christ  as  Mas- 
ter and  Lord.  It  has  just  as  many  bishops  as  pastors.  It  recognizes  no  ec- 
clesiastical government  higher  than  that  of  the  local  church.  It  does  not  be- 
lieve that  Jesus  Christ  has  a  court  on  earth,  either  in  synod  or  general  assem- 
bly. It  believes  that  there  is  safety  in  a  multitude  of  counsellors.  It  believes 
in  co-operation.  It  is  one  of  the  greatest  missionary  forces  ;  its  members 
giwQ  n\o\t  per  capita  to  the  spread  of  home  and  foreign  missions  than  any 
other  people  in  the  world.  It  is  older  than  any  other  denomination.  The 
.  Christian  church  was  first  Congregational,  then  Presbyterian,  then  Episcopal, 
and  then  Papal.  Congregationalism  goes  back  to  the  beginning.  It  is  not  a 
reformation  only,  it  is  a  restoration — an  ecclesiastical  solvent  among  the  oth- 
er denominations.  It  is  the  solution,  and  the  only  solution,  of  the  movement 
among  Christians  who  are  tired  of  warring  sects.  It  is  a  common  denomi- 
nator. It  is  not  anchored  to  the  past.  It  receives  the  Bible  as  the  word  of 
God,  recognizing  the  fact  that  its  depth  is  not  fathomed,  nor  its  breadth  mea- 


Origin  and  History.  5 

sured,  nor  its  height  reached,  but  holding  that  there  is  more  light  to  break 
forth  from  it.  It  has  a  quick  ear,  a  keen  vision,  and  a  ready  hand  for  all  good 
work.  The  doctrines  on  which  all  evangelical  denominations  are  agreed  are 
the  ones  on  which  Congregationalism  insists.  For  the  things  about  which 
they  differ  it  cares  not  at  all.  It  is  looking  upward  and  forward,  with  "the 
past  unsighed  for,  and  the  future  sure." 

The  religious  belief  of  the  Congregational  churches  is 
expressed  in  the  various  creeds  of  the  local  organizations, 
and  also  "for  substance  of  doctrine",  in  the  Westminster 
Assembly's  Confession,  and  other  formulas  more  modern. 
The  Burial  Hill  Creed  of  1865,  and  the  Creed  of  1883,  are 
very  generally  held  in  high  esteem  by  American  Congrega- 
tionalists — both  as  being  more  catholic  in  spirit,  and  ex- 
pressed in  language  more  simple  and  less  likel}^  to  be  mis- 
understood. "But  no  one  of  these  is  received  as  universal- 
ly binding  on  the  conscience,  or  as  the  necessary  test  of  fel- 
lowship. The  Scriptures  alone  occupy  that  position  ;  his 
understanding  of  which  each  Christian  minister  is  free  to  ex- 
press in  his  own  form  of  words,  to  the  satisfaction  of  his 
brethren." 

ORIGIN  AND  HISTORY. 

It  is  believed  that  the  Congregational  polity  is  the  one 
adopted  by  the  apostles  in  organizing  the  primitive  churches. 
The  New  Testament  never  speaks  of  "the  cliurch  "  as  an 
external,  centralized  body,  embracing  and  ruling  a  number 
of  congregations.  The  word  is  used  only  to  mean  the  gen- 
eral company  of  all  the  redeemed,  or  a  particular  band  of 
believers  in  a  particular  place.  Thus,  it  speaks  not  of  the 
church  of  Asia,  but  of  "  the  churches  of  Asia,"  "  the  churches 
of  Judea,"  "the  churches  of  Macedonia;"  and  of  the  par- 
ticular bodies,  "the  church  which  was  at  Jerusalem,"  "the 
church  in  the  house",  of  Philemon,  Nymphas,  and  others. 
The  working  of  these  churches  seems  to  have  been  Congre- 
gational.    The  assembled  brethren  elected  an  apostle  to  fill 


6  Congj-egationalisvi  in  Ohio. 

the  place  of  Judas.  (Acts  1:15-26.)  The  brotherhood  at 
Jerusalem  chose  seven  deacons  by  ballot.  (Acts  6:3-5.) 
The  church  at  Corinth  was  urged  to  discipline  its  refractory- 
members.  (I  Cor.  5:1-7;  6:1-5.)  The  elders  (or  bishops) 
are  forbidden  to  exercise  authority  in  the  church.      (I  Pet. 

5:3-) 

This  democratic  system  seems  always  to  have  prevailed 

in  apostolic  times.  Gieseler,  an  eminent  historian,  says,  "  the 
new  churches  in  Palestine  firmed  themselves  after  the  pat- 
tern of  the  mother  church  at  Jerusalem."  Mosheim,  a  noted 
Lutheran  writer,  says,  "the  assembled  people,  therefore, 
elected  their  own  rulers  and  teachers,  or  by  their  free  con- 
sent received  such  as  were  nominated  to  them.  They  also, 
by  their  suffrages,  rejected  or  confirmed  the  laws  that  were 
proposed  by  their  rulers  in  their  assemblies.  Every  individ- 
ual church  recognized  itself  as  an  independent  community — 
not  recognizing  any  sort  of  external  influence  or  authority." 
The  testimony  of  Neander  is  the  same. 

But  in  the  latter  part  of  the  second  century  unchristian 
dissensions  arose  among  the  clergy,  and  Jerome  suggests 
that  an  officer,  called  a  bishop,  was  appointed  to  quell  them. 
New  offices  were  then  created.  The  road  was  open  to  am- 
bition, and  selfish  men  improved  it;  and  the  simple  democ- 
racy of  the  apostles  soon  degenerated  into  the  oppressive 
hierarchy  of  the  Papacy. 

As  early  as  the  twelfth  century  a  little  band  known  as 
the  Waldenses,  in  the  Cottian  Alps,  resisted  the  invasions  of 
the  Romish  pov/er,  and  in  spite  of  persecution,  maintained 
their  simple  methods.  They  claimed  to  have  inherited  their 
religion  from  the  primitive  Christians.  But  with  this  excep- 
tion, all  Christendom  was  in  bondage  until  the  Reformation. 
The  right  of  private  judgment  was  then  asserted  ;  though 
the  simple  organization  of  early  days  was  not  fully  re-estab- 
lished. But  in  England,  in  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  a 
Puritan  party  grew  up  in  the  church,  unwilling  to  conform  to 


Evohitioii  of  Pi-inciples.  7 

what  they  considered  idolatrous  usages.  Persecution  follow- 
ed, and  some  of  them  left  the  Establisiiment  entirely  and  be- 
came Separatists,  while  others  adhered  to  it  under  protest, 
and  were  called  Nonconformists. 

About  the  year  1600,  some  of  the  Puritans,  driven  by 
their  troubles  "to  see  further  into  these  things  by  the  light 
of  the  word  of  God,"  became  convinced  of  the  wide  diver- 
gence of  all  the  hierarchies  from  the  original  simplicity  of 
the  early  churches,  and  resolved  to  return  to  the  democratic 
method  of  the  apostles.  They  organized  in  Scrooby  in  1606 
the  first  Congregational  church  after  the  Reformation.  Vio- 
lent persecution  bcfel  them,  and  they  fled  to  Amsterdam,  in 
Holland,  with  John  Robinson,  their  pastor,  one  of  the  most 
learned,  sagacious  and  godly  men  of  his  time.  After  a  year 
they  removed  to  Leyden,  where  they  lived  eleven  years.  But 
it  became  evident  that  Holland  was  not  the  place  for  their 
permanent  home,  and  one  division  of  the  church  embarked 
in  the  Mayflower,  and  crossing  the  sea,  landed  on  Plymouth 
Rock,  December  22,  1620,  here  to  establish  "a  Church  with- 
out a  bishop  and  a  State  without  a  king."  This  was  the 
first  church  in  New  England,  and  almost  the  first  Protestant 
church  in  the  New  World.  It  was  more  than  eighty  years 
afterward  that  the  first  Presbyterian  church  was  organized  in 
Philadelphia,  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  later  that  the 
first  Methodist  church  was  formed  in  New  York  city. 


EVOLUTION  OF  PRINCIPLES. 

In  its  deepest  and  most  essential  meaning  Congrega- 
tionalism has  alwa}'s  been  synonymous  with  democrac}-,  the 
rule  of  the  people  in  religious  affairs,  and  including  the  three 
prime  factors,  liberty,  equality,  fraternity.  But  in  its  histor- 
ic development,  the  expression  of  these  fundamentals  in  in- 
dividual and  corporate  life,  progress  has  been  slow  and  pain- 


■8  Congregationalism  in  Ohio. 

ful,  and  has  been  achieved  only  through  centuries  of  experi- 
ment, blundering  and  costly  failure.  And,  according  to  uni- 
versal law,  the  ripest  and  best  results  are  among  the  last  to 
make  their  advent.  From  the  beginning  until  now  this  form 
of  church  polity  has  suffered  serious  damage  from  evil  envi- 
ronment. To  all  appearance  its  spiritual  ideas,  its  noble  con- 
ception of  human  nature  as  renewed  and  inspired  by  the  Di- 
vine Spirit,  were  utterly  vanquished  and  annihilated  by  the 
brute  lorces  dominant  in  the  old  Roman  world,  while  later 
followed  the  more  hopeless  violence  and  chaos  resulting  from 
the  irruption  of  the  Barbarians.  And  again,  when  the  day 
of  resurrection  dawned,  kingcraft  and  priestcraft  were  yet  su- 
preme, the  prescription  of  monarchy,  aristocracy,  prelacy  and 
scholasticism  extended  to  every  realm,  the  individual  had  no 
rights,  the  masses  were  but  as  cattle  to  be  driven,  or  as  chil- 
dren to  be  fed  and  nourished,  to  receive  commands  and  to 
submit  to  discipline.  Tremendous  revolutions  political,  so- 
cial, intellectual  and  religious  ^vere  required  before  this  free 
church  order  could  enter  fairly  upon  its  beneficent  career ; 
the  rough  work  of  Cromwell  and  his  Puritans,  and  even  such 
cataclysms  as  the  French  Revolution.  The  Anglo-Saxon 
race  was  the  divinely  chosen  instrument,  at  first  with  Great 
Britain  as  the  sublime  theater,  which  later  was  transferred  to 
the  New  World,  with  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and 
the  setting  up  of  the  American  Republic  as  necessary  steps. 
And  even  then  democracy  was  scarcely  more  than  an  ideal, 
a  theory,  a  dream.,  and  to  many  only  a  hateful  dream.  Fifty 
years  more  were  required  before  we  possessed  in  the  fullest 
sense  a  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people  and  for  the 
people. 

In  particular,  for  more  than  two  centuries  after  the  Land-- 
ing  at  Plymouth  the  genius  of  Congregationalism  was  se- 
riously circumscribed  and  fettered.  Its  normal  growth  was 
hindered,  9.nd  lamentable  deformity  was  produced  by  the  co- 
operation of  various  external  forces.     Such,  for  example,  as 


Evolution  of  Principles.  9 

the  hardships  and  perils  of  life  in  the  forest  and  upon  the 
frontier,  with  the  dire  accompaniment  of  frequent  Indian 
wars.  The  excitements,  too,  of  the  French  War  and  of  the 
Revolution  were  demoralizing^  in  the  extreme.  Then  the 
Puritan  founders  of  New  England  were  so  false  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  their  polity,  or  were  so  deficient  in  spiritual  knowl- 
edge, as  to  feel  constrained  to  lean  upon  the  civil  arm  for 
support,  to  look  to  legislatures  and  governors  for  defence 
against  heresy  and  moral  laxity,  to  set  magistrates  to  compel 
observance  of  the  Sabbath,  attendance  upon  public  worship 
and  payment  of  taxes  for  the  support  of  the  gospel.  To  be 
sure,  in  this  they  were  simply  no  wiser  than  their  generation. 
Church  and  state  were  united  in  all  Protestant  countries,  even 
in  the  American  colonies  with  one  or  two  exceptions.  Only  a 
few  Baptists,  Quakers,  and  Separatists  like  the  Pilgrim  fathers 
at  Plymouth,  had  attained  to  ideas  of  toleration  and  liberty 
which  now  are  fast  becoming  universal.  But  this  form  of  ty- 
ranny re-acted  to  their  serious  spiritual  detriment  upon  those 
who  gave  it  countenance,  and  besides  drove  thousands  out 
of  the  denomination  by  which  it  was  inaugurated,  as  well  as 
led  directly  to  the  Half-way  Covenant,  whereby  the  churches 
were  filled  with  unregenerate  persons,  of  which  the  outcome 
was  some  generations  of  spiritual  deadness,  and  a  final  wide- 
spread lapse  into  Unitarianism.  Closely  allied  with  this  sad 
departure  from  the  Christian  way  was  another,  that  connect- 
ed with  the  rigid  rule  of  the  clergy,  especially  in  Connecti- 
cut where  they  wielded  wide  authority  through  the  consocia- 
tion, or  standing  council.  The  churches  must  not  be  left  to 
themselves  but  must  be  regulated  and  held  to  righteousness 
hy  some  higher  ecclesiastical  authority. 

To  these  prolific  sources  of  evil  was  added  the  sway 
of  a  hyper-Calvinistic  system  of  theology  which  landed 
not  a  few  in  formalism  and  fatalism,  and  with  the  theocra- 
cy became  largely  responsible  for  the  entering  in  of  Univer- 
salism.     Still   another  demoralizing  tendency  is  seen  in  the 


10  Congregatio}ialism  in   Ohio. 

fact  that  at  first  of  necessity  Congregationalism  took  mainly 
the  form  of  protest,  and  resistance,  and  rebellion  as  touch- 
ing all  attempts  whether  of  kings  or  prelates  to  trespass  up- 
on reason  and  the  moral  sense.  In  the  dire  extremity  they 
would  die  sooner  than  obey  and  conform  under  compulsion, 
even  in  matters  non-essential  and  comparatively  insignificant. 
And  so  deadly  was  the  strife,  so  severe  were  the  sufferings 
for  generations,  that  fear  of  despotism  became  morbid,  and 
in  order  to  make  liberty  ample  and  absolutely  secure  the 
churches  refused  to  unite  for  any  purpose,  and  preferred  iso- 
lation with  all  its  weakness  and  peril.  The  nineteenth  cen- 
tury was  well  started  on  its  course  before  conferences  and  as- 
sociations were  fashioned  with  no  object  but  to  further  un- 
ion, fellowship,  co-operation,  spiritual  quickening,  and  pledg- 
ed one  and  all  never  in  the  least  to  essay  the  exercise  of  ec- 
clesiastical authority.  The  fulness  of  religious  freedom 
was  hastened  in  its  coming  when  Congregationalism  emerg- 
ed from  the  narrow  limits  of  the  East,  and  entered  upon  its 
magnificent  career  of  helping  to  conquer  for  Christ  the  conti- 
nental spaces  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  the  Pacific  Slope. 
Properly  with  wonder  do  we  dwell  upon  the  Providence 
which  freed  the  Fathers  from  the  thraldom  of  the  Old  World 
and  bestowed  the  matchless  opportunities  of  the  New,  but 
not  so  often  and  thoroughly  do  we  appreciate  the  signifi- 
cance to  the  denomination  of  the  second  migration,  scarce- 
ly inferior  in  importance  to  the  first,  which  began  with  the 
founding  of  the  first  church  beyond  the  Alleghenies  on  the 
borders  of  the  Great  West. 

In  spite  of  manifold  drawbacks  and  some  staggering 
losses,  Congregationalism  has  had  a  notable  history,  and  has 
attained  to  proportions  by  no  means  inconsiderable.  In  1800 
the  number  of  churches  was  850,  and  of  members  100,000, 
and  fifty  years  later  these  had  increased  to  2,000  and  206,- 


Evolution  of  Principles.  1 1 

ooo.     The  figures  which  follow  set  the  growth   of  more  re- 
cent vears. 


Church 

In  Sunday 

Year. 

Churches. 

Ministers. 

Members. 

Schools. 

1859 

2,511 

2,544 

250,452 

228,984 

1864 

2,667 

2,798 

262,649 

277,398 

1869 

3.043 

3,068 

310,362 

356,502 

1874 

3.403 

3.278 

330,391 

385,338 

1879 

3.674 

3.585 

382,540 

437.505 

1884 

4,092 

3,889 

401,549 

478,357 

18S9 

4.689 

4,640 

491,985 

610,227 

1895 

S.342 

5.287 

583.539 

677,935 

Following  is  the  growth  of  thirty  years,  as  shown  by  Secretary  Hazea's 
report  to  the  National  Council:  When  the  Council  met  in  Boston,  in  1865, 
it  represented  a  constituency  of  2,745  churches  with  a  membership  of  262,- 
649  in  23  states  and  territories.  It  has  made  its  way  in  the  thirty  years,  in- 
to 26  states,  and  is  now  at  home  in  every  state  save  Delaware,  and  every  ter- 
ritory except  Alaska.  It  has  added  2,597  churches  to  its  roll,  almost  doubling 
their  number,  and  it  has  gained  322,890  in  its  membership,  an  increase  of 
more  than  122  per  cent.  During  the  same  time  the  population  of  the  coun- 
try has  increased  from  a  probable  35,000,000  in  1865,  to  a  probable  69,000,  - 
000  in  1895,  or  94  per  cent,  giving  our  churches  a  ratio  of  increase  28  per 
cent,  larger  than  that  of  the  population  with  which  we  have  to  do.  In  the 
West,  California  has  multiplied  its  churches  more  than  tenfold,  from  19  to 
196  ;  Colorado  from  3  to  57,  Kansas  from  32  to  187  ;  Nebraska  from  10  to 
186  ;  Oregon  from  6  to  52  ;  while  in  the  four  great  states,  which  in  1865  had 
not  even  a  name,  all  are  now  represented  ;  Washington  by  113  churches;  the 
Dakotas,  North  and  South,  by  224  and  Oklahoma,  youngest  born  of  our  sis- 
ernood,  by  63. 

But  not  all  who  bear  our  denominational  name  are  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States.  For  in  the  British  Isles,  known 
as  Independents,  dwell  almost  as  many  more  ;  with  many- 
tens  of  thousands  additional  upon  the  Continent,  in  Austra- 
lia, South  Africa,  and  the  Islands  of  the  Sea.  So  that  if  all 
these  are  included,  the  total  would  not  fall  much  below  i,- 
400,000  communicants,  representing  a  population  of  at  least 
7,000,000.  But  the  fellowship  of  those  who  find  warrant  in 
the  Gospel  for  absolute  freedom  from  clerical  domination 
and  church  judicatures,  far  surpasses  such  figures  as  these. 
Thus  there  are  the  Baptists  a  great  host,  and  the  Disciples 


12  Congrcgationalisin  in  Ohio. 

with  nearly  i  ,000,000  members,  and  various  smaller  bodies.  It 
would  be  no  exaggeration  to  put  the  number  of  those  who 
prefer  the  Congregational  polity  at  35,000.000. 


THE  SITUATION  IN  1796. 

As  gazed  upon  through  the  long  vista  of  intervening 
years  the  date  seems  exceedingly  remote,  and  especially  if 
we  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  astounding  changes  which  during 
the  century  have  been  wrought  in  every  realm.  We  are  car- 
ried back  to  times  that  wear  a  look  most  ancient  and  prim- 
itive. Though  Columbus  had  been  in  his  grave  for  three 
hundred  years,  the  world  was  as  yet  largely  unknown.  The 
career  of  Captain  Cook  ended  in  1779,  and  he  it  was  who 
revealed  to  human  knowledge  the  myriad  islands  thick- 
strewn  through  the  vast  spaces  of  the  Pacific.  It  was  only 
in  1788  that  "Botany  Bay"  in  "New  Holland"  had  been 
made  a  dumping  ground  for  criminals,  while  "Van  Dieman's 
Land"  was  occupied  for  the  same  purpose  not  until  1803. 
For  generations  longer  Africa  was  terra  incognita.  Great 
Britain  laid  hands  upon  Cape  Colony  in  1795  and  ownership 
was  made  sure  in  1806.  It  was  between  exactly  the  same 
dates  that  Mungo  Park,  the  first  of  African  explorers,  at  the 
cost  of  life  was  urging  his  way  through  swamps  and  forests 
in  search  of  the  upper  waters  of  the  Niger,  and  Livingstone, 
the  greatest  of  these,  was  born  in  181 3.  The  Bastile  fell, 
and  the  French  Revolution  began  its  course  so  terribly  sub- 
lime two  years  after  by  the  Ordinance  of  '87  the  Northwest 
Territory  was  created,  and  only  a  twelvemonth  before  the 
first  settlers  landed  at  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum.,  to  found 
a  city  named  in  honor  of  the  unfortunate  Queen  who  five 
years  later  met  her  bloody  fate.  The  year  from  which  this 
Centennial  is  reckoned  was  marked  also  by  Napoleon's  first 
brilliant  and  victorious  campaign  in  Italy. 


TJic  Situation  in  I7g6.  13 

In  our  own  country  the  period  of  infancy  Avas  not  yet 
passed.  Just  two  decades  before  the  Declaration  was  signed, 
CornvvalHs  surrendered  in  '81,  the  Confederation  gave  place 
to  the  "more  perfect  Union"  when  General  Putnam  and  his 
companions  were  finishing  their  first  winter  in  the  wilderness 
of  Ohio.  Detroit  remained  in  British  hands  until  the  very 
year  under  view.  Washington  was  still  President,  with  three 
years  of  life  remaining  ;  the  city  which  bears  his  name  was 
not  occupied  as  the  Capital  of  the  nation  until  the  first  year 
of  the  new  century.  Vermont  had  been  admitted  to  state- 
hood in  1 79 1,  Kentucky  not  many  months  after,  while  Ten- 
nessee and  the  Marietta  church  came  into  being  within  a  few 
weeks  of  the  same  date,  so  that  now  the  General  Govern- 
ment bore  sway  over  sixteen  commonwealths.  But  as  yet 
the  entire  Gulf  coast  and  the  whole  region  from  the  Missis- 
sippi to  the  far  Pacific  coast  was  held  by  European  powers. 
Louisiana  was  Spanish  soil  until  1800,  and  in  1803  ^^'^^s  pur- 
chased by  Jefferson  from  Napoleon  ;  and  almost  at  once 
Lewis  and  Clark  were  dispatched  up  the  Missouri,  across  the 
Rockies  and  down  the  Columbia  to  inspect  the  new  posses- 
sions. Florida  was  ceded  in  18 19,  while  Texas  was  not  an- 
nexed till  1845.  Of  the  first  generation  of  statesmen  Adams 
and  Jefferson  survived  nearly  thirty  years,  and  Madison  and 
Burr  a  decade  longer.  Of  the  second  generation  John  Ouin- 
cy  Adams  had  attained  to  the  age  of  twenty-nine,  Clay  was 
now  nineteen,  while  Benton,  Calhoun,  and  Webster  were 
but  lads  of  fourteen.  The  famous  orations  at  Plymouth  and 
Bunker  Hill  belong  away  down  in  1820  and  1825.  Of  course 
the  third  generation  of  public  men,  who  figured  in  the  days 
when  slavery  culminated  in  secession,  were  not  born.  No 
more  had  any  save  the  very  eldest  of  that  shining  galaxy  of 
American  writers  as  yet  seen  the  light.  Irving  was  now  a 
youth  of  thirteen.  Cooper  a  lad  of  seven,  and  Bryant  an  in- 
fant of  two. 

In  the  religious  world  in  like  manner  all  modern  things 


14  Congycgationalisni  in  Ohio. 

were  either  wholly  unknown  or  else  just  beginning  to  appear. 
Thus  Carey's  memorable  sermon  which  resulted  in  the  found- 
ing of  the  first  missionary  society,  was  preached  in  '92,  and 
a  year  later  he  set  sail  for  India.  The  century  closed  be- 
fore his  first  convert  was  baptized.  The  Danish  Lutheran 
mission  atTranquebar  was  established  in  1706,  with  Schwartz 
as  its  most  eminent  representative,  who  survived  until  '98, 
and  for  some  sixty  years  the  Moravians  had  been  sounding  out 
the  Gospel  in  divers  desolate  regions  ;  but  the  heralds  of  the 
Cross  in  the  entire  foreign  field  numbered  but  a  score  or  two. 
The  London  Missionary  Society  dates  from  '95,  and  while 
the  Marietta  saints  were  covenanting  together  upon  the 
banks  of  the  Ohio  the  first  contingent  sent  out  was  in  the 
midst  of  a  perilous  voyage  to  the  remote  South  Seas.  The 
English  Church  Missionary  Society  was  organized  in  '99.  To 
conquer  China  for  Christ,  Morrison  took  his  departure  from 
England  in  1807,  and  Moffat  for  Africa  in  18 18;  but  Fiji,  the 
spot  on  earth  nearest  to  pandemonium  and  perdition,  was 
not  entered  with  the  Glad  Tidings  before  1835.  In  1796 
Mills  was  only  sixteen  and  Judson  a  child  of  eight,  and  the 
American  Board  had  no  existence  for  fourteen  years.  There 
was  no  Presbyterian  General  Assembly  before  1789.  The 
Congregationalists  were  divided  by  state  lines,  and  when  in 
1798  the  Connecticut  saints  began  to  be  stirred  with  mission- 
ary zeal  in  behalf  of  the  new  settlements  they  proceeded  to 
form  a  society  which  should  be  all  their  own,  and  their  breth- 
ren in  Massachusetts  did  the  same  a  year  later.  The  Avieri- 
can  Board  was  the  earliest  of  our  organizations  with  a  con- 
stituency as  extensive  as  the  nation,  was  followed  by  the 
American  Education  Society  in  1815,  by  the  Bible  Society 
in  1 8 16,  the  Sunday  School  Union  in  1824,  the  Tract  Socie- 
ty in  '25,  and  the  Home  Missionary  Society  in  '26.  Of  all 
these  except  the  first  named,  the  producing  cause  was  the 
astonishing  emigration  which,  as  the  eighteenth  century  was 
closing,  began  to  set  in  towards  the  roomy  recesses  of  the 


TJic  Situation  in  ijg^.  1 5 

Great  West.  And  in  all  this  unprecedented  transfer  of  pop- 
ulation the  men  and  women  who  in  1788  fixed  themselves 
upon  the  Ohio  Avere  the  illustrious  pioneers. 

Of  course  the  Jesuits  and  other  orders  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  church  had  entered  the  Mississippi  Valley  centuries 
before.  As  early  as  1762  two  Moravian  missionaries  to  the 
Indians  had  advanced  as  far  westward  as  the  upper  Musking- 
um, but  were  presently  compelled  to  take  their  departure. 
In  1772  Zeisberger,  of  the  same  choice  spiritual  fellowship, 
founded  a  mission  in  what  is  now  Tuscarawas  county,  and 
for  almost  a  decade  labored  among  the  Delawares  with  most 
encouraging  measures  of  success  in  souls  redeemed  and 
helped  well  on  toward  Christian  civilization.  But  in  '81  the 
prosperous  settlements  were  broken  up  by  the  commandant 
of  the  British  forces  at  Detroit,  and  the  people  were  exiled 
to  the  Sandusky.  Six  months  later,  being  at  the  point  of 
starvation,  a  large  party  returned  to  secure  a  store  of  corn 
which  had  been  left  unharvested  in  the  fields  ;  but  while  at 
work  were  surprised  by  a  company  of  frontiersmen  from 
Pittsburg,  and  nearly  a  hundred,  including  many  women  and 
children,  were  ruthlessly  butchered.  The  survivors  with  their 
faithful  pastor  then  sought  safety  in  western  Canada  upon 
the  Thames.  In  '86  they  started  back  to  re-occupy  their 
former  seats  upon  the  Tuscarawas,  but  were  turned  aside  to 
the  Huron  and  founded  Salem  where  Milan  stands  to-day. 
Five  years  later  Zeisberger  and  his  flock  felt  constrained  once 
more  to  escape  deadly  peril  by  flight  to  the  Thames  across 
the  lake.  Finall}'  in  '98,  two  years  after  the  Marietta  church 
was  formed,  the  remnant  is  found  less  than  seventy  miles  to 
the  north,  occupying  the  12,000  acres  lying  about  Schon- 
brunn  and  Gnadenhutten  which  Congress  had  granted  them. 
In  1808  the  aged  missionary  passed  to  his  reward  after  more 
than  seventy  years  of  sorest  travail.  By  1824  the  whites 
had  so  crowded  in  on  every  side  that  the  Indians  were  will- 


1 6  Congregationalisvi  in  Ohio. 

ing  to  turn  their  backs  upon  Ohio  and  take  their  journey  far 
towards  the  setting  sun. 

The  Presbyterians  had  begun  to  cross  the  mountains 
even  before  the  Revolution,  and  were  now  found  not  only  in 
Tennessee  and  Kentucky,  but  also  in  Western  Pennsylvania, 
especially  in  and  about  Pittsburg,  and  these  latter  were  main- 
ly of  the  sturdy  Scotch-Irish  stock.  In  1781  Redstone  Pres- 
bytery was  set  up,  which  eight  years  later  contained  eight 
ministers  and  upwards  of  thirty  congregations.  In  1793 
Ohio  Presbytery  was  formed  from  Redstone,  extending  to 
Lake  Erie  and  covering  the  frontier  settlements  in  South- 
eastern Ohio.  But  further,  within  a  few  years  of  the  found- 
ing of  Marietta,  settlers  by  the  thousand  floated  down  the 
stream  and  located  at  various  points  upon  the  northern  bank. 
A  Presbyterian  church  is  found  at  Cincinnati  as  early  as 
1790,  and  a  presbytery  in  '99.  A  Baptist  church  also  was 
gathered  in  1790,  and  an  association  in  '97.  The  pioneer 
Methodist  itinerant  put  in  his  appearance  in  1798.  Thus 
the  Congregationalists,  though  as  individuals  clearly  first  up- 
on Ohio  soil,  were  somewhat  later  than  some  of  their  breth- 
ren in  beginning  to  organize  for  the  strengthening  and  en- 
largement of  the  kingdom  of  God.  From  the  first  Sabbath 
the  Marietta  disciples  maintained  religious  services,  and  after 
the  first  year  were  blessed  with  the  services  of  a  pastor,  but 
several  settlements  were  combined  in  the  congregations  to 
which  he  ministered,  and  the  Indian  wars  which  raged  from 
'91  to  '95  put  serious  hindrances  in  the  way  of  formal  ec- 
clesiastical beginnings. 


THE  GENESIS  OF  OHIO. 

The  Northwest  was  discovered  by  La  Salle,  Marquette 
and  their  associates,  and  therefore  the  region  lying  between 
the  south  shore  of  Lake  Erie  and  the  Ohio  was  claimed  by 


The  Genesis  of  Ohio.  17 

France.  It  was  held  however  not  for  purposes  of  settlement, 
but  only  for  the  sake  of  traffic  with  the  Indians.  About  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  English  colonies  from  the 
seaboard  began  to  cross  the  Appalachians  to  explore,  or 
hunt,  or  in  search  of  new  homes.  By  the  close  of  the  Revo- 
lution a  considerable  population  was  to  be  found  in  East 
Tennessee  and  on  the  Cumberland,  and  in  the  Blue  Grass 
region  of  Kentucky  made  easily  accessible  from  the  east  by 
Cumberland  Gap.  Traders  and  explorers  had  also  penetrat- 
ed from  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  to  the  Muskingum,  the 
Scioto  and  the  Miamis.  By  1752  the  signs  of  British  en- 
croachment were  so  unmistakable  that  French  troops  were 
sent  from  Canada,  and  forts  were  constructed  at  Erie,  on 
French  Creek  and  at  Pittsburg.  It  was  to  capture  the  latter 
that  Braddock  set  out  upon  his  ill-starred  expedition  three 
years  later.  But  Ohio  was  meant  for  freedom  and  Protest- 
antism, and  when  in  1759  the  Latin  was  vanquished  by  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham,  the  happy  con- 
summation was  made  sure. 

The  upper  valley  of  the  Mississippi  was  now  British  terri- 
tory, and  it  became  American  as  a  result  of  the  Revolution, 
For  several  years  however  the  Federal  Government  was  not 
able  to  possess  and  control  its  own.  Various  states,  under  co- 
lonial charters  which  gave  them  such  colossal  areas  that  the 
Pacific  was  the  boundary  on  the  west,  laid  claim  to  the  entire 
northwest."  But  one  after  another  they  were  persuaded  to 
surrender  whatever  rights  they  had.  New  York  was  the  first 
to  yield  in  1781.    Three  years  afterward  Virginia  accepted  the 

*The  generosity  of  King  Charles  II  was  so  lavish  that  his  charter  for 
Connecticut  embraced  all  lands  contained  between  the  forty-first  and  forty- 
second  parallels  north,  and  from  Providence  plantations  on  the  east  to  the 
South  Sea  on  the  west,  with  the  exception  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania 
colonies.  In  excuse  for  the  pleasure-loving  monarch  it  should  be  added  that 
according  to  tradition,  when  he  inquired  how  far  distant  the  ocean  might  be, 
the  cute  Yankee  petitioner  made  answer  that  some  said  its  waves  could  be  seen 
from  the  tops  of  the  highest  hills  I 


1 8  Congregationalism  in  Ohio. 

inevitable,  reserving  only  the  Military  District  lying  between 
the  Little  Miami  and  the  Scioto,  as  a  bounty  for  her  sons  who 
had  fought  in  the  war  for  Independence.  In  1785  Massachu- 
setts also  gave  way,  but  Connecticut  held  out  a  year  longer, 
and  then  signed  away  all  her  western  lands  except  a  body  of 
3,800,000  acres  located  in  the  extreme  northeast  corner.  This 
tract  constitutes  the  famous  Western  Reserve,  which  has 
played  such  a  magnificent  part  in  the  entire  history  of  the 
state.  Its  northern  line  was  Lake  Erie,  and  its  southern  line 
was  the  forty-first  degree  of  north  latitude.  The  length 
is  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  from  east  to  west,  while 
the  width  varies  from  sixty-eight  miles  on  the  Pennsylvania 
border  to  about  twenty-five  in  the  western  portion,  with  an 
average  of  not  far  from  fifty. 

The  French  were  dispossessed,  and  the  British,  and 
Congress  now  has  full  control ;  but  behold,  the  Indians  are 
in  occupancy  everywhere,  like  the  Delawares,  Wyandots, 
Ottawas,  Chippewas,  Mingoes  and  Shawanese,  nor  have  they 
the  least  intention  of  resigning  these  fertile  valleys  and  these 
choice  hunting  and  fishing  grounds  at  the  bidding  of  the 
whites.  To  be  sure  the  Six  Nations  in  1784  by  treaty  at 
Fort  Stanwix  relinquished  their  claims  to  the  territory,  and 
the  Ohio  Indians  were  mistakenly  supposed  to  have  done 
the  same  the  year  following  at  Fort  Mcintosh.  But  when 
in  due  season  they  beheld  settlers  by  the  thousand  entering 
from  the  east  and  south,  these  jealous  and  determined  war- 
riors were  roused  to  indignation,  and  for  the  better  part  of  a 
decade  made  furious  resistance  to  aggression  with  wholesale 
fire  and  slaughter.  They  proved  more  than  a  match  for  two 
armies  sent  against  them,  under  the  lead  of  Generals  Har- 
mar  and  St.  Clair.  Nor  was  it  until  after  Wayne's  over- 
whelming victory  at  the  battle  of  Fallen  Timbers,  near  the 
Rapids  of  the  Maumee,  in  1795,  that  the  braves  consented  to 
surrender  all  lands  east  of  the  Cu)^ahoga  and  the  Tuscara- 
was, as  well  as  all  south  of  a  line  drawn   from  a  point  on 


TJic  Genesis  of  Ohio.  1 9 

the  latter  stream  near  the  boundary  between  Stark  county 
and  Tuscarawas,  westward  to  the  portage  between  the  Big 
Miami  and  the  Maumee.  But  ev^en  yet  well  nigh  a  third  of 
the  territory  now  included  in  the  state  was  closed  to  settle- 
ment, including  half  of  the  Western  Reserve.  In  1805  by 
the  treaty  of  Fort  Industry  this  latter  portion  was  transferred 
to  the  whites.  But  it  was  not  until  181 8  that  the  north- 
western section  of  the  state  was  wholly  freed  from  aborigin- 
al dominion,  the  Moravian  Christian  Delawares  held  their 
reservation  on  the  Muskingum  until  1824  and  it  was  as  re- 
cent as  1842  that  the  last  tribe  emigrated  from  Ohio  to  the 
west. 

The  next  step  in  order  for  the  Government  was  to 
open  for  settlement  this  imperial  tract  to  which  it  had  fallen 
heir.  In  1786  the  task  was  undertaken  by  Thomas  Hutch- 
ins,  the  geographer  of  the  United  States.  Seven  ranges  of 
townships  were  ordered  to  be  laid  off,  each  six  miles  square. 
Starting  from  the  point  where  the  Ohio  riv.er  crosses  the 
western  boundary  of  Pennsylvania,  in  person  he  ran  a  line 
westward,  now  known  as  the  "Geographer's  Line,"  over  the 
hills  of  Columbiana  and  Carroll  counties,  and  forty-two  miles 
in  length.  At  each  mile  a  post  was  set  and  on  each  side 
witness-trees  were  marked.  Every  six  miles  was  a  town  cor- 
ner. From  these  corners  surveyors  ran  the  meridian  or  range 
lines  south  to  the  Ohio,  and  also  the  east  and  west  town 
lines.  In  '87  this  land  was  offered  for  sale  at  auction,  but 
on  account  of  Indian  troubles  and  from  other  causes  for 
some  years  was  not  in  great  demand.  In  fact,  two  momen- 
tous transactions  were  indispensable  to  the  genesis  of  the 
state  which  was  to  be  ;  the  fashioning  of  the  forces  w^hich 
were  to  lead  to  the  founding  of  Marietta,  and  the  sale  by  the 
state  of  Connecticut  of  its  lands  on  the  Western  Reserve. 
New  England  had  already  begun  to  overflow  at  an  astonish- 
ing rate  into  eastern  and  central  New  York,  and  in  the  inter- 
ests of  Christianity  and  civilization  was  making  ready  to  dis- 


20  Congregationalism  in  Ohio. 

patch  thousands  of  her  best  sons  and  daughters  to  lay  the 
foundations  of  great  commonwealths  in  the  wilderness  be- 
yond the  mountains. 

In  1785  General  Rufus  Putnam  had  been  appointed  by 
Congress  one  of  the  surveyors  of  the  Seven  Ranges,  and  had 
sent  forward  General  Benjamin  Tupper  to  fill  temporarily 
his  place.  At  the  close  of  the  first  season  the  latter  brought 
back  such  an  enthusiastic  report  of  the  country  that  in  March 
of  the  next  year  the  Ohio  Land  Company,  composed  of  of- 
ficers and  soldiers,  was  formed  in  Boston,  with  Putnam  and 
Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler  among  the  directors,  and  a  scheme  to 
purchase  a  large  tract  just  west  of  the  Seven  Ranges,  on  the 
Ohio,  and  on  both  sides  of  the  Muskingum.  It  was  near 
the  end  of  1787  before  the  land  was  secured,  and  the  pio- 
neers were  ready  to  begin  their  long  journey  through  the 
forests  and  over  the  Alleghenies  to  enter  the  land  ot  promise. 
But  this  notable  undertaking  was  curiously  connected  in  va- 
rious ways  with  a  vastly  greater  one  which  Congress  was  con- 
sidering during  the  same  months  ;  to  wit,  the  framing  of  an 
ordinance  for  the  government  of  the  Northwest,  of  which 
Ohio  was  to  form  a  part.  Various  hands  wrought  upon  this 
immortal  document,  among  them  Jefferson,  Nathan  Dane, 
Rufus  King  and  Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler,  and  July  13  of '87 
it  became  irrevocable  law,  and  the  whole  vast  region  from 
Pennsylvania  to  the  Father  of  Waters  was  consecrated  for- 
ever to  freedom,  intelligence,  morality  and  religion.  It  was 
under  such  a  celestial  aegis  that  Putnam  and  his  company  of 
forty-eight  reached  the  Youghiogheny  in  February  of  '88, 
constructed  boats,  naming  one  the  Mayflower,  descended 
the  Ohio,  and  April  7  stepped  ashore  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Muskingum. 

The  second  beginning,  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  to  the 
north,  and  hard  by  the  lake,  was  made  later  by  nearly  a  de- 
cade, but  all  things  considered,  was  for  Congregationalism 
in  Ohio  and  throughout  the  entire  West,  a  vastly  more  sig- 


TJie  Genesis  of  Ohio.  21 

nificant  event.  In  this  from  first  to  last  Connecticut  was  the 
chief  instrumentality.  In  1795  aland  company,  composed 
of  some  three  hundred  and  twenty  of  her  most  substantial 
citizens,  had  purchased  the  Western  Reserve  of  the  state; 
less  500,000  acres,  constituting  the  "Fire  Lands,"  which 
had  been  bestowed  upon  citizens  who  had  suffered  from  in- 
cursions of  the  foe  during  the  Revolution.  The  next  year, 
exactly  a  century  since,  Moses  Cleaveland  with  a  party  of 
fifty  two  persons,  two  of  them  women,  set  forth  up  the  Mo- 
hawk, along  the  southern  shores  of  Lake  Ontario  and  Lake 
Erie,  kept  the  Fourth  of  July  in  patriotic  fashion  at  Con- 
neaut,  just  inside  of  the  boundaries  of  "New  Connecticut," 
pushed  forward  the  survey  for  which  they  were  sent,  and  by 
the  close  of  autumn  had  laid  out  a  city  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Cuyahoga,  whose  population  numbered  but  two  families  dur- 
ing the  months  next  ensuing. 

In  order  to  complete  the  setting  forth  of  the  non-re- 
ligious aspects  of  the  beginnings  of  our  churches  in  the 
state,  it  will  suffice  to  add  that  about  three  months  after  the 
nineteenth  century  company  of  Pilgrims  landed  from  the 
Mayflower  upon  the  soil  of  Greater  New  England,  General 
St.  Clair,  the  newly  appointed  governor,  and  the  other  of- 
ficials, inaugurated  the  government  of  the  Northwest  Terri- 
tory, with  Fort  Harmar  for  defence  across  the  Muskingum 
to  the  west.  Not  until  1799  did  Ohio  begin  a  separate  ex- 
istence, when  a  territorial  legislature  was  elected  and  began 
to  frame  statutes  for  the  rapidly  increasing  population.  In 
1803  the  boon  of  statehood  was  secured,  with  Chillicothe  as 
capital.  In  18 16  the  seat  of  government  was  transferred  to 
Columbus.  It  was  a  great  event  in  Ohio  when,  in  181 1,  the 
first  steamboat  was  built  at  Pittsburg ;  and  also  when  the 
National  Turnpike,  begun  at  Cumberland,  Md.,  in  1807,  was 
completed  to  Wheeling  in  1820,  and  extended  to  Springfield 
during  the  next  fifteen  years  ;  and  a  much  greater  when  in 
1825  the  Erie  Canal  was  opened,  with  a  system  of  water- 


22  Congregationalism  in  Ohio. 

ways  following  hard  after  which  gave  this  state  several  lines 
of  communication  between  the  Lake  and  the  River  ;  but 
greatest  of  all  when  before  the  end  of  the  thirties  the  rail- 
road had  entered.  These  figures  will  afford  some  idea  of  the 
early  development  of  our  commonwealth.  In  the  opening 
year  of  the  century  the  population  numbered  but  45,365, 
which  by  1810  had  increased  to  230,760;  ten  years  later  to 
581,434;  by  1830  to  937,903  ;  and  by  the  close  of  the  next 
decade  to  1,519,467,  only  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Vir- 
ginia now  containing  more  inhabitants.  In  1850  it  had  at- 
tained to  the  third  place,  and  held  the  same  until  the  last 
census,  when  through  the  enormous  growth  of  its  metropo- 
lis, Illinois  ascended  to  this  place  of  honor. 


THE  DAYS  OF  THE  PIONEERS. 

It  will  be  convenient  to  divide  Congregational  history 
in  Ohio  into  three  periods  ;  the  first  covering  about  fifty 
years,  and  extending  to  near  the  close  of  the  fourth  decade  ; 
the  second  including  about  half  as  many  years,  and  ending 
early  in  the  sixties,  which  may  be  termed  the  days  of  dark- 
ness, or  the  times  of  conflict  and  chaos  for  our  Zion  ;  and 
the  last  extending  to  the  present,  and  characterized  by  a 
steadily  growing  denominational  consciousness  and  devel- 
opment of  organic  life,  as  well  as  by  a  normal  and  remarka- 
ble increase  of  numbers.  And  the  task  of  reviewing  the 
story  of  the  origin  and  early  growth  of  our  churches  will, 
perhaps,  be  better  performed  by  making  these  topographi- 
cal divisions  ;  the  region  lying  adjacent  to  the  mother  set- 
tlement ;  the  Cincinnati  country,  including  other  territory  in 
the  interior;  New  Connecticut;  and  the  northwest,  which 
was  the  latest  to  be  redeemed  from  the  rule  of  the  red  man 
and  the  forest. 


The  Days  of  the  Pioneers:  23 

I.     IN  southp:ast  oiiio. 

The  founders  of  Marietta  were  wholly  of  sturdy  Puri- 
tan stock,  though  not  all  especially  Christian  either  in  char- 
acter, or  the  motives  which  brought  them  so  far  from  home 
to  lay  foundations  in  the  wilderness.  But  among  them  were 
not  a  few  possessed  of  strength  of  purpose,  noble  ambitions, 
and  large  ideas  of  what  institutions  the  new  community 
should  create  and  cherish.  Both  learning  and  religion  should 
be  held  in  honor.  The  first  Sabbath  was  observed  as  a  day 
of  rest,  and  July  1 5  Rev.  Daniel  Breck,  a  member  of  the 
Ohio  Company,  being  present,  in  a  bower  a  general  gather- 
ing was  held  for  public  worship,  made  up  in  part  from  the 
neighboring  garrison,  about  three  hundred  in  all.  But  in 
March  preceding  a  committee  had  been  chosen  "to  consider 
the  expediency  of  employing  some  suitable  person  as  a  pub- 
lic teacher  at  the  settlement  now  making."  At  the  same 
time  a  plan  was  formed  to  secure  money  by  subscription  to 
sustain  churches  and  schools.  Moreover  (in  those  medieval 
days  state  and  church  were  still  closely  connected),  it  was  re- 
quired by  the  act  of  Congress  under  which  the  Company 
held  its  lands  that  "section  29  should  be  given  perpetually 
for  the  support  of  religion."  In  August  Dr.  Cutler  arrived 
on  a  visit,  and  for  four  Sundays  preached  in  a  block  house 
on  Campus  Martins.  General  Parsons  officiated  on  Thanks- 
giving Day,  and  March  19  of  '89  Daniel  Story,  a  licentiate 
from  Boston  was  present,  to  begin  a  ministerial  career  which 
lasted  twelve  years.  This  devoted  servant  of  God,  with 
Joseph  Badger,  of  whom  mention  will  be  made  further  on, 
must  be  honored  and  revered  as  //^i' pioneer  preachers  of  our 
faith  and  order,  when  the  heavenly  spirit  which  inspired 
Robinson,  and  Bradford,  and  Winslow,  and  Winthrop  first 
entered  on  its  career  of  conquering  for  Christ  the  western 
forests,  the  prairies,  the  Great  Plains,  and  even  to  the  Gol- 
den Gate.     His  ordination  for  various  reasons  did  not  occur 


24  Congregationalisvi  in  Ohio. 

until  '98,  to  secure  which  he  must  needs  make  a  journey  to 
Massachusetts.  But  meantime  his  energies  were  fully  taxed 
in  ministering  to  the  spiritual  needs  of  his  neighbors.  Dur- 
ing six  years  of  hostilities  with  the  Indians  his  lonely  jour- 
neys through  the  woods  from  hamlet  to  hamlet  were  made 
often  at  the  risk  of  his  life.  For  nine  long  years  the  organ- 
ization of  a  church  was  delayed,  and  then  no  council  nearer 
than  the  Hudson  River  was  possible  to  extend  the  right 
hand  of  fellowship.  Some  forty,  men  more  than  half  of 
them,  entered  into  covenant,  gathered  from  four  communi- 
ties, including  Belpre  twelve  miles  down  the  Ohio,  Water- 
ford  about  as  far  up  the  Muskingum,  and  Vienna,  Va.,  and 
€ach  supplying  a  deacon.  As  the  fashion  then  was  in  the 
East,  in  1801  a  religious  society  was  formed,  one  hundred 
and  twenty-seven  male  citizens  signing  the  constitution. 
Three  years  later  Mr.  Story  resigned  the  pastorate  and  soon 
died,  worn  out  by  the  exposure  and  severe  strain  of  frontier 
life.  Just  before  this  the  earliest  of  ecclesiastical  troubles 
and  schisms  befel,  when  certain  disaffected  spirits  of  Presby- 
terian antecedents  withdrew  and  brought  into  being  a  second 
congregation.  In  1805  Samuel  P.  Robbins  became  pastor 
of  the  original  church,  and  in  May  of  1809  a  sanctuary  cost- 
ing $7,349,033  was  finished  and  dedicated,  which  with  thor- 
ough repairs  in  1836,  and  a  much  more  extensive  overhaul- 
ing thirty  years  later,  is  doing  good  service  to-day. 

In  the  meantime  population  had  been  steadily  pouring 
into  this  portion  of  the  state,  but  for  the  most  part  non- 
Congregational  in  origin  and  sentiment,  so  that  the  mother 
organization  was  long  left  almost  without  neighbors  or  fel- 
lowship. It  is  true  that  a  church  is  heard  of  as  existing 
early  at  McConnelsville  on  the  Muskingum,  and  now  the  cap- 
ital of  Morgan  county,  as  well  as  one  still  further  up  the 
same  stream  at  Springfield  (Putnam),  now  the  western  part 
of  Zanesville,  which  after  two  years  {ex  msre  patmni)  was 
merged  in  a  Presbyterian  church.     In  all  seventeen  churches 


TJic  Days  of  tJic  Pioneers.  25 

which  once  existed  within  fifty  miles  of  IMarietta  leave  only 
their  names  behind.  Moreover,  in  179S  a  Rev.  Lyman  Potter 
with  his  son-in-law  had  bought  a  tract  of  land  on  Mingo 
Bottom,  a  short  distance  below  Steubenville,  and  formed  a 
church  thereabouts  whose  lease  of  life  was  also  but  brief. 
As  representing  a  cheering  promise  that  sadly  failed  of  fulfil- 
ment, in  1809  the  Muskingum  Congregational  Association 
was  organized  by  Messrs.  Potter,  Robbins  of  Marietta,  and 
Harris  of  Granville,  Licking  county.  After  seven  years  this 
body,  born  prematurely,  ceased  to  be.  Such  in  brief  is  the 
early  stor}'  of  the  polity  we  love  in  the  southeastern  section 
of  the  state.  Belpre  became  a  distinct  organization  in  1827, 
Harmar,  across  the  river,  dates  from  1840,  during  the  same 
decade  three  others  followed  located  not  far  away,  and  three 
more  in  the  fifties,  with  others  sufficient  to  raise  the  num- 
ber in  Marietta  Conference  to  thirteen,  with  a  membership 
of  over  1,200.  The  I'irst  Church  has  408  members,  and 
Harmar  232. 

11.      SOUTHWEST   AND    CENTRAL. 

The  summer  which  followed  the  advent  of  the  first  set- 
tlers to  Marietta  saw  an  excited  and  enthusiastic  multitude 
descending  the  Ohio,  and  fixing  themselves  at  various  points 
which  seemed  attractive,  even  as  far  down  as  the  fertile  bot- 
toms of  the  two  Miamis.  A  few  chose  for  a  home  the 
site  of  the  future  Cincinnati.  To  these  so  many  others  were 
added  the  year  following,  emigrants  mainly  from  New  Jer- 
sey, that  by  1790  the  way  was  prepared  for  the  organizatipn 
of  a  Presbyterian  church.  But  it  was  six  years  later  before 
anything  occurred  of  especial  pertinence  to  this  history,  and 
in  the  self  same  famous  year  which  our  Centennial  recalls, 
when  certain  energetic,  enterprising  and  godly  Welshmen, 
recently  from  North  Wales,  and  Independents  by  strong  con- 
viction, began  to  gather  hereabouts  waiting  for  the  lands  to 
be  opened  for  occupation.  Among  them  were  Ezekiel  Hughes 


26  Congregationalisvt  in   Ohio. 

Edward  Bebb,  and  two  brothers,  Morgan  and  William 
Gwilyms.  By  1801  they  began  to  locate  in  various  townships 
near  the  line  separating  Hamilton  county  from  Butler.  For 
the  better  part  of  a  generation  from  time  to  time  their  num- 
bers were  increased  by  accessions,  in  part  by  families  of  New 
England  birth,  but  to  a  greater  extent  by  immigration  from 
Wales,  Yankees  and  Welsh  easily  meeting  and  co-operating 
on  the  best  of  terms.  After  a  year  they  began  to  receive 
the  ministrations  of  an  English  Congregational  clergyman 
from  Cincinnati,  Rev.  J.  W.  Brown,  who  also  organized  them 
in  1803  into  the  Whitewater  Congregational  Church,  at  Pad- 
dy's Run.  This  was  our  fourth  church  west  of  the  Alleghe- 
nies,  located  in  the  extreme  southwestern  corner  of  civiliza- 
tion, with  Marietta  more  than  three  hundred  miles  up  the 
Ohio,  Austinburg,  formed  in  1802,  almost  within  sight  of 
Lake  Erie  in  the  remote  northeast  corner  of  the  Western 
Reserve,  and  Hudson  dating  from  the  year  after.  Only 
dense  and  pathless  forests  lay  between.  Not  many  of  our 
churches  have  made  a  nobler  record  than  this  one.  Educa- 
tion has  been  looked  after  by  a  high  school,  a  boarding 
school,  and  library  association,  with  the  natural  result  seen  in 
the  sending  out  of  a  succession  of  men  to  fill  worthily  im- 
portant public  stations.  "These  men  and  women  were  so 
truly  Christian  and  liberal  in  their  views  that  they  could 
agree  upon  a  confession  of  faith  and  rules  of  practice  so 
scriptural,  and  satisfactory,  that  from  1802  to  1878  there 
had  never  been  but  one  attempt,  and  that  unsuccessful,  to 
form  another  evangelical  church  in  that  community."  Nor 
is  it  a  slight  honor  and  privilege  that  this  body  of  disciples 
by  priority  of  origin,  can  rightly  claim  primacy  among  the 
sisterhood  of  forty-two  Welsh  Congregational  churches  in 
Ohio,  and  with  two  others  as  oldest  of  all  such  in  the  United 
States. 

For  more  than  twenty-five  years  Paddy's  Run  was  left 
without  neighbors,  or  until  a  church  was  organized  at  Mon- 


TJic  Days  of  the  Pioneers.  27 

roe,  Butler  county,  in  1829,  though  in  1822  one  had  been 
formed  nearly  eighty  miles  to  the  east  at  Greenfield,  High- 
land county.  In  1832  followed  one  in  Storrs  township,  now 
within  the  limits  of  Cincinnati.  Though  Vine  St.  Church 
dates  from  1831,  it  did  not  fully  enter  the  Congregational 
fold  until  fifteen  years  later.  Lawrence  Street  Welsh  was 
added  in  1840.  In  1878,  after  diligent  search  through  twenty 
counties  situated  in  the  southwest,  just  twenty  churches  of 
our  order  could  be  found,  and  of  that  number  only  about  a 
dozen  survive  to  the  present  day,  though  new  ones  have  taken 
the  places  of  some  which  have  perished. 

For  various  reasons  one  other  name  must  be  mentioned, 
though  in  some  respects  it  suggests  matters  tending  to  de- 
nominational humiliation  and  sorrow.  For  striking,  spectac- 
ular entrance  into  history  perhaps  Granville,  Licking  county, 
may  vie  with  Marietta  herself  For  in  1805  the  church  and 
community  were  fashioned  in  Massachusetts  and  then  trans- 
ferred almost  bodily  to  the  wilds  centralof  Ohio.  The  Sci- 
oto Land  Company  had  made  a  purchase  of  28,000  acres, 
and  persuaded  some  hundreds  of  substantial  farmers  to  leave 
behind  all  the  accessories  of  civilized  life,  and  take  up  the 
rudimental  task  of  felling  the  forests,  breaking  the  soil,  and 
building  all  good  institutions  from  the  very  foundations. 
During  the  first  year  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  of  all  ages 
had  accomplished  the  trying  journey  of  forty  or  fifty  days, 
and  were  housed  in  log  cabins.  Of  what  excellent  spiritual 
stuff  these  colonists  were  made  we  find  in  the  fact  that  on 
the  arrival  of  the  foremost  company  at  nightfall,  no  sooner 
were  the  oxen  unyoked  than  they  were  ready  for  public  wor- 
ship. The  Sunday  after,  though  no  preacher  was  present  to 
lead,  and  though  it  was  the  middle  of  November,  they  ga- 
ther about  the  stump  of  the  first  tree  that  had  been  cut  on 
the  town  plot  to  join  in  prayers  offered  and  hear  sermons 
read  by  some  of  the  abler  of  their  number.  This  isolated 
flock  was  left  in  the   wilderness  for  three  years  without  a 


2  8  Congregationalism  in   Ohio. 

shepherd,  only  visited  several  times  by  Rev.  S.  P.  Robbins, 
of  Marietta,  traveling  over  a  dreary  stretch  of  a  hundred 
miles,  to  marry,  to  baptize  and  to  administer  the  communion. 
In  the  spring  of  1808  the  Rev.  Timothy  Harris  took  up  his 
abode  among  them,  remaining  pastor  for  fourteen  years. 
From  the  log  school-house  the  church  graduated  into  a  frame 
structure  in  18  10,  and  from  this  into  a  regular  sanctuary  of 
goodly  proportions  supplied  with  porch,  pews,  galleries, 
steeple  and  bell!  The  further  story,  though  of  thrilling  in- 
terest, must  be  passed  by.  Sui^ce  it  to  say  that  all  the  good 
things  civil,  social,  intellectual  and  religious  which  New 
England  so  abundantly  produces,  were  here  possessed  and 
diffused  far  abroad  on  every  side.  And  it  is  therefore  only 
the  more  lamentable,  and  inconsequent,  and  utterly  out  of 
place  when,  by  a  decisive  vote  of  sixty-three  to  eleven,  these 
doughty  sons  and  daughters  of  the  Pilgrims  turned  their 
backs  upon  their  ecclesiastical  ancestry  and  entered  the  Pres- 
byterian fellowship ! ! 

Around  Granville,  in  the  same  county,  about  fifty  years 
since  quite  a  cluster  of  Congregational  churches  were  formed, 
most  of  which  have  since  perished.  In  1839  Rev.  Jacob 
Little,  nearly  forty  years  pastor  at  Granville,  wrote  naming 
these  five  in  the  order  of  their  organization  :  St.  Albans, 
Hartford,  Burlington,  Bennington  and  McKean.  In  later 
times  all  these,  one  after  another,  have  disappeared  from  our 
lists.  Bnt  over  against  this  disheartening  reminiscence  it  is 
pleasant  to  recall  that  in  the  counties  covering  the  central 
portion  of  the  state  we  now  have  two  conferences,  contain- 
ing together  more  than  forty  churches,  some  of  them  among 
our  largest  and  most  vigorous,  which  have  not  yet  begun  to 
suspect  that  Congregationalism  is  other  than  most  excellent 
both  in  theory  and  practice,  in  principles,  methods  and  re- 
sults, upon  the  individual  character,  and  upon  society  at 
large. 


The  Days  of  the  Pioneers.  29 

III.      THE  WESTERN   RESERVE. 

Though  comprising  no  considerable  portion  of  the  area 
of  the  state,  this  section  for  various  cogent  reasons  de- 
serves a  prominent  place  in  the  history  of  Congregationalism 
in  Ohio.  For  outside  of  New  England  no  region  of  equal  ex- 
tent can  be  named  which  so  closely  resembles  New  England 
at  so  many  characteristic  points.  The  population  to  an  un- 
usual degree  is  homogeneous  and  of  Puritan  ancestry.  Its 
twelve  counties  hold  three-fifths  of  the  churches  of  our  or- 
der, and  about  one-half  of  the  membership,  leaving  the  mi- 
nority thinly  scattered  abroad  through  the  other  seventy- six 
counties.  To  make  a  comparison  (not  meant  to  be  odious 
in  the  least)  with  a  denomination  which  in  social,  intellectu- 
al and  spiritual  qualities  most  nearly  resembles  us,  and  with 
which  therefore  we  are  most  likely  to  come  into  competition, 
on  the  Reserve,  according  to  the  census  of  1890,  we  outnum- 
ber the  Presbyterians  two  to  one  in  communicants,  and  in 
churches  three  to  one.  In  two  counties  no  Presbyterian 
church  has  an  existence,  and  in  each  of  three  others  but  a 
single  one.  The  metropolitan  city  of  northern  Ohio  stands 
third  in  this  country  for  the  number  of  Congregational 
churches,  being  surpassed  only  by  Chicago  and  Boston. 
The  Reserve  holds  a  village  community  of  upwards  of  4,000 
and  two  Congregational  churches,  one  ranking  fifth  for  size 
among  our  entire  American  sisterhood,  and  together  having 
a  membership  of  over  2,000. 

As  we  have  seen,  it  is  just  a  hundred  years  since  the 
first  compan}'  of  emigrants  from  Connecticut  crossed  the 
Pennsylvania  border  to  build  homes  and  open  farms  in  this 
the  Jiltinia  Thiile  of  the  time.  The  Indian  wars  were  but 
recently  closed,  the  distance  from  civilization  was  great,  and 
the  task  of  making  the  journey  tremendous,  so  that  several 
years  passed  before  the  settlers  numbered  more  than  a  few 
hundreds,  while  these  were  located  in  little  groups  separated 


30  Coiigregationalisni  in  Ohio. 

by  long  stretches  of  pathless  woods.  The  first  missionary 
who  sought  them  out  and  began  to  hold  religious  services 
was  Rev.  Joseph  Badger,  sent  hither  by  the  Connecticut 
Missionary  Society  in  1800.  For  six  }'cars  this  man  of  tru- 
ly apostolic  gifts  and  graces  went  back  and  forth,  here  and 
there,  wherever  log  cabins  had  been  built,  ministering  with- 
out stint  to  the  spiritual  needs  of  all.  The  first  winter  was 
spent  in  and  about  Youngstown,  Vienna,  Hartford,  Warren, 
etc,  in  Mahoning  and  Trumbull  counties,  the  next  summer 
he  made  his  way  as  far  west  as  Sandusky,  and  late  in  Octo- 
ber organized  the  first  Congregational  church  in  "New  Con- 
necticut" at  Austinburg.  Early  in  September  of  1802 
another  church  followed  at  Hudson,  some  fifty  miles  away  to 
the  southwest,  and  the  next  year  two  more,  at  Hartford  and 
Warren.  In  1800,  only  1,144  settlers  were  to  be  found  east 
of  the  Cuyahoga,  while  beyond  that  stream  the  Indians  were 
in  full  possession.  At  first  Mr.  Badger  had  only  Rev.  Wm. 
Wick,  a  Presbyterian,  for  companion  and  fellow  helper,  but 
late  in  1801  came  Rev.  Ezekiel  Chapman,  to  remain  but  a 
twelvemonth,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1803  Rev.  Thomas  Rob- 
bins  arrived.  By  18 10  the  population  of  the  Reserve  had  in- 
creased to  16,000,  and  the  number  of  churches,  counting  only 
those  which  remain  to  us,  had  increased  to  nine,  organized  in 
the  following  order  :  Canfield,  Burton,  Aurora,  Ham^pden,  Ge- 
neva and  Tallmadge.  In  the  meantime  the  precious  Plan  of 
Union  had  been  contrived  and  put  into  operation,  whereby 
the  two  denominations  concerned  went  into  partnership  in 
the  matter  of  planting  and  watering  religious  institutions  in 
the  nascent  Great  West.  The  Connecticut  Missionary  So- 
ciety and  the  General  Assembly  were  to  co-operate  in  a  way 
strictly  fraternal,  and  impartial,  and  unselfish  for  the  greater 
glory  of  God  and  well-being  of  men.  But,  unfortunately 
for  the  furtherance  of  New  England  ecclesiastical  ideas  and 
practices,  it  came  to  pass  that  during  the  six  years  preceding 
18 12,  the  formative  period  of  the  infant  organizations,  while 


The  Days  of  the  Pioneers.  31 

the  missionary  money  was  derived  mainly  from  Connecticut, 
the  missionaries  were  ahnost  wholly  from  Pennsylvania,  so 
conveniently  near  at  hand,  and  made  of  sturdiest  Scotch- 
Irish  Presbyterian  stuff.  The  Presbyterian  governing  bodies 
were  also  within  delightfully  easy  reach,  with  demoralizing 
results  to  Congregationalism,  of  which  mention  will  be  made 
on  later  pages. 

The  second  decade  of  the  century  brought  re-inforce- 
ments  of  ministers  much  more  generally  of  New  England 
birth  and  training,  and  among  them  such  honored  names  as 
Thomas  Barr,  Harvey  Coe,  Joseph  Treat,  G.  H.  Cowles, 
John  Seward,  Simeon  Woodruff,  William  Hanford,  Caleb 
Pitkin,  Luther  Humphrey,  Alvan  Coe,  Lot  B.  Sullivan  and 
Alfred  PL  Betts,  who  survived  till  the  close  of  this  primitive 
period,  wrought  righteousness,  endured  hardness  as  good 
soldiers,  and  made  notable  achievements  in  laying  well  the 
foundations  of  the  Kingdom.  By  1810  the  Reserve  west  of 
the  Cuyahoga  was  open  for  settlement,  and  population  be- 
gan to  pour  into  the  Firelands  at  the  western  extremity. 
Entrance  was  becoming  common  by  water  from  Buffalo, 
thanks  to  the  steamboat,  and  the  Erie  Canal  was  underway. 
Of  course  the  towns  bordering  on  Lake  Erie  were  easiest  of 
access,  the  several  gravel  ridges  which  parallel  the  lake 
were  highly  prized  and  selected  for  occupation  by  the  earli- 
est comers,  while  the  southern  borders  of  the  Reserve  were 
left  as  mere  habitations  for  deer,  bears  and  wild  turkeys  until 
the  thirties  were  at  the  doors.  By  1820  the  churches, 
reckoning  only  those  still  on  our  rolls,  had  increased 
from  nine  to  forty-two.  The  first  eight  which  belong  to  the 
second  decade  are  all  east  of  the  Cuyahoga:  Painesville, 
Rootstown,  Charlestown,  Windham,  Mantua,  Nelson,  John- 
sonville,  and  North  Madison.  Brecksville,  across  that  stream, 
follows  in  1 8 16,  and  after  West  Williamsfield  and  Bristol- 
ville,  formed  about  the  same  time,  come  Lyme  far  west  in 
Huron  county,  and  Lodi  in  Medina  county,  some  forty  miles 


32  Congregationalism  in  Ohio. 

back  from  the  lake  and  on  the  divide  beyond  which  the 
streams  flow  to  the  Ohio.  Others  follow  in  this  order : 
Mesopotamia  and  Strongsville  in  the  same  year  with  the  last 
named,  Atwater,  Croton,  Huntsburg,  Richfield,  Sheffield, 
Vermillion  and  West  Andover,  all  in  1818.  During  the  next 
year  no  less  than  eleven  churches  were  organized,  a  number 
surpassed  only  once,  and  in  1834  which  gave  origin  to  twelve. 
These  are  their  names  :  Brooklyn  Village,  Brunswick,  Ches- 
ter, Conneaut,  Kent,  Kirtland,  Medina,  Rock  Creek,  Fitch- 
ville,  Sandusky  and  Vermillion,  the  last  three  formed  between 
May  23  and  June  10  by  Rev.  John  Seward  and  Rev.  Joseph 
Treat,  missionaries  of  the  Connecticut  Missionary  Society, 
while  on  a  horseback  tour  through  the  almost  uninhabited 
woods  of  the  extreme  frontier. 

Twenty-two  churches  date  from  the  third  decade,  of 
which  Belpre,  on  the  Ohio,  is  one,  nine  were  located  in  the 
western  half  of  the  Reserve,  among  them  Elyria  and  Well- 
ington, and  twelve  in  the  eastern  half.  The  fourth  decade 
leads  all  others  to  date  in  our  history,  since  it  increased  our 
sisterhood  by  no  less  than  thirty-eight,  not  all,  however  in  the 
region  now  specially  under  view.  Those  were  booming 
times  for  the  state.  The  Erie  Canal  was  completed,  the 
Ohio  canal  system  was  finished  or  well  under  wa)%  the  pop- 
ulation advanced  some  600,000,  and  the  financial  craze  was 
on  which  ended  in  the  collapse  of  1837.  Cleveland  First, 
Mansfield  and  Oberlin  began  their  career,  while  in  the  limit- 
ed region  now  covered  by  Medina  Conference  no  less  than 
ten  churches  were  organized,  and  also  the  first  one  in  the 
Toledo  region.  Plain  Church,  located  in  Wood  county,  a  few 
miles  from  Bowling  Green. 

IV.      IN  NEWEST  OHIO. 

Although  in  this  portion  of  the  state  fourteen  of  our 
churches  are  located,  and  some  of  them  take  rank  among 
the  first  for  size,  financial  ability  and  abundance   of  good 


TJie  Days  of  the  Pioneers.  33 

works,  yet  a  few  words  concerning  them  will  well  suffice 
here,  and  indeed  the  events  connected  with  their  history  be- 
long almost  altogether  to  a  later  period.  As  we  have  just 
seen,  the  eldest  of  them  all  dates  only  from  1835,  'intl  but  a 
few  months  since  was  celebrating  its  sixtieth  anniversary. 
When  Marietta  was  making  ready  for  her  semi-centennial, 
Toledo  was  just  casting  off  her  swaddling  clothes,  having 
only  in  1833  attained  to  a  name.  Seven  years  later  her  in- 
habitants numbered  no  more  than  1,224,  ^^^d  in  1850,  3,829 
were  the  figures.  In  1830  this  newest  Ohio  contained  eight 
counties  whose  aggregate  population  was  only  2,679,  ^"^  av- 
erage of  335,  five  of  them  having  less  than  300  each,  and 
one,  Van  Wert,  only  49.  By  the  end  of  the  decade,  how- 
ever, the  census  showed  an  advance  to  38,462,  or  more  than 
fourteen-fold.  In  order  to  explain  this  phenomenon  it  is 
only  necessary  to  recall  such  facts  as  these  :  Until  18 18  the 
area  now  covered  by  more  than  twenty  counties,  and  more 
than  7,000  square  miles  in  extent,  or  about  one-sixth  of  the 
entire  state,  was  still  owned  and  occupied  by  various  Indian 
tribes.  Until  after  the  peace  of  181 5,  Indian  hostilities 
were  often  threatened  from  this  quarter.  Then  this  same 
frontier  region  held  the  flat,  low-lying  Black  Swamp,  of  evil 
name,  about  120  miles  by  40,  nearly  the  size  of  Connecti- 
cut, covering  the  valley  of  the  lower  Sandusky,  of  the  Por- 
tage, and  the  streams  which  flow  into  the  Maumee  from  the 
south,  like  the  Auglaize.  The  forests  were  most  dense  and 
shut  out  the  sun,  while  during  the  bulk  of  the  year  the  ooze 
was  so  deep  as  to  make  travel  impossible.  Excepting  cer- 
tain roomy  reservations,  this  section  was  open  for  settlement 
in  1820,  though  the  fifth  decade  of  the  century  had  arrived 
before  700  Wyandots,  the  last  remnant  of  the  red  men,  took 
their  final  departure.  Still  further,  the  financial  crash  of  '37 
delayed  the  beginning  of  rapid  immigration.  And  finally, 
the  relative  dearth  of  Congregational  churches  may  be  ex- 
plained by  suggesting  that  the  pioneers  of  northwestern  Ohio 


34  Congregationalism  in   Ohio. 

to  a  large  extent  were  of  German  birth,  or  else  of  Teutonic 
stock  which,  while  en  route  for  a  terrestial  paradise,  halted 
for  some  generations  in  Pennsylvania ;  and  that  our  eccles- 
iastical fathers  of  fifty  years  since  held  religiously  to  the 
idea  that  only  New  England  Yankees  were  fit  to  possess  the 
church  polity  of  the  Pilgrims,  and  only  such  were  thought 
of  as  eligible  to  fellowship  with  us.  Of  our  sixteen  churches 
composing  the  Toledo  Conference  five  date  from  the  forties  ; 
West  Mill  Grove  having  been  organized  in  1843,  Sylvania 
and  Toledo  First  in  the  year  following  (the  latter,  though 
Congregational  always,  yet  reposing  in  the  bosom  of  Pres- 
bytery until  within  five  years),  Ridgeville  Corners  in  1846, 
Toledo  Second  in  1849. 

THOSE  DAYS  OF  HOMESPUN. 

It  is  next  to  impossible  for  us  of  this  generation  to  re- 
produce in  imagination  the  environment,  material  and  spirit- 
ual, in  the  midst  of  which  the  men  and  women  passed  their 
lives  whose  laborious,  but  exalted  task  it  was  to  lay  in  this 
great  commonwealth  the  foundations  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God.  What  exhausting  toil,  what  endurance  of  evil,  and 
what  deprivation  of  comfort  and  privilege.  Dearth  of  re- 
sources to  the  verge  of  poverty,  loneliness  and  frequent 
sickness,  but  the  old  home  so  far  away.  Let  these  few  speci- 
fications stand  for  the  entire  trying  situation.  The  omni- 
present forest,  with  wild  game  abounding.  Roads  scarcely 
more  than  trails,  or  blazed  paths,  with  travel  on  foot,  on 
horseback,  or  in  ox-carts.  To  be  sure,  the  canal  v/as  here 
or  soon  to  arrive,  and  the  locomotive  was  actually  tugging 
and  screaming  over  twelve  miles  of  railway.  The  rude  log 
cabin  universal,  v,4iether  for  dwelling,  school  or  place  of  wor- 
ship, and  the  fireplace  the  only  resource  for  heat.  And  this 
other  fact  :  throughout  all  these  40,000  square  miles  of  fron- 
tier territory  the  population  was  next  to  wholly  rural,  and  ple- 
beian, and   provincial  down    to  the  end  of  the  thirties.     Of 


The  Mischievous  Plan  of   Union.  35 

cities  there  were  next  to  none,  while  the  villages  of  any  con- 
siderable size  were  few  and  far  between.  Cincinnati  was  the 
proud  Queen  City  of  the  West,  boasting  of  29,000  in  '30, 
and  of  35,000  in  '37,  Next  came  Cleveland,  but  with  a  vast 
space  between,  mustering  a  brave  500  at  the  end  of  a  gener- 
ation after  the  first  settler  arrived,  doubling  that  figure  by 
1830,  and  fifty  years  after  the  birth  of  Marietta  becoming 
the  lordly  possessor  of  7,000.  Columbus  was  incorporated 
in  1834,  and  three  years  after  had  5,000  inhabitants.  Day- 
ton followed  with  4,000,  Mansfield,  with  350  houses,  had 
reached  2,000,  thus  standing  on  a  par  with  Toledo (!). 
Within  the  limits  of  Akron  dwelt  i,6oo,  Marietta's  popula- 
tion of  1,200  dwelt  in  180  houses,  Elyria  was  "safely  esti- 
mated" at  700,  in  80-100  dwellings,  Ashtabula  at  600,  while 
Medina  is  credited  with  50  families,  and  20-30  edifices  loom- 
ing up  in  the  near  future.  Such  was  the  Ohio  of  about  six- 
ty years  ago. 


THE  MISCHIEVOUS  PLAN  OF  UNION. 

We  come  now  to  the  consideration  of  an  event,  a  trans- 
action, which  to  Congregationalism  is  of  nothing  less  than 
first-class  importance,  and  whether  for  the  variety,  the  ex- 
tent, or  the  permanence  of  the  results  produced.  And  un- 
fortunately for  our  Israel  the  outcome  was  mainly  evil. 
Nor  was  the  damage  confined  to  this  state,  but  extended  far 
beyond  our  border,  and  appears  especially  in  New  York, 
Michigan,  Illinois  and  Wisconsin."'  By  the  time  churches 
began  to  spring  up  in  the  trans-Mississippi  region  the  evils 
of  the  Plan  had  become  so  patent  and  so  past  endurance 
that  its  provisions  were  left  in  innocuous  desuetude  by  those 

*Tha  case  of  Wisconsin  was  peculiar.  The  attempt  was  made  there,  not 
to  amalgamate  the  two  denomiisations  concerned,  but  only  to  place  them  in 
fraternal  conjunction  and  fellowship  in  a  stale  Presbyterian-and-Congrega- 
itonal    Convention. 


36  Congregationalisni  in   Ohio. 

whose  ecclesiastical  goings  forth  were  from  Plymouth  Rock. 
The  famous  document  follows,  which  stands,  not  indeed  for 
the  "first  disobedience"  of  the  remarkably  wise  and  good 
New  England  Puritans,  nor  quite  the  cause  of  "  all  our 
woe,"  but  certainly  was  attended  by  the  loss  of  our  Eden  in 
the  older  Northern  States  : 

"A  Plan  of  Union  between  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists  in  the 
New  Settlements,  adopted  in    iSoi. 

'Regulations  adopted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  America,  and  by  the  General  Association  of  the  State  of  Connecti- 
cut (provided  said  Association  agree  to  them),  with  a  view  to  prevent  aliena- 
tion and  promote  union  and  harmony  in  those  new  settlements  which  are 
composed  of  inhabitants  from  those  bodies. 

1.  It  is  strictly  enjoined  on  all  their  missionaries  to  the  new  settlements, 
to  endeavor,  by  all  proper  means,  to  promote  mutual  forbearance  and  ac- 
commodation, between  those  inhabitants  of  the  new  settlements  who  hold  the 
Presbyterian  and  those  who  hold  the  Congregational  form  of  church  govern- 
ment. 

2.  If  in  the  new  settlements,  any  church  of  the  Congregational  order 
shall  settle  a  minister  of  the  Presbyterian  order,  that  church  may,  if  they 
choose,  still  conduct  their  discipline  according  to  Congregational  principles, 
settling  their  difficulties  among  themselves,  or  by  a  council  mutually  agreed 
upon  for  that  purpose  But  if  any  difficulty  shall  exist  betw.;en  the  minister 
and  the  church,  or  any  member  of  it,  it  shall  be  referred  to  the  presbytery  to 
which  the  minister  shall  belong,  provided  both  parties  agree  to  it ;  if  not,  to 
a  council  consisting  of  an  equal  number  of  Presbyterians  and  Congregation- 
alists, agreed  upon  by  both  parties. 

3.  If  a  Presbyterian  Church  shall  settle  a  minister  of  Congregational 
principles,  that  church  may  still  conduct  their  discipline  according  to  Presby- 
terian principles ;  excepting  that  if  a  difficulty  arise  between  him  and  his 
church,  or  any  member  of  it,  the  cause  shall  be  tried  by  the  Association,  to 
which  the  said  minister  shall  belong,  provided  both  parties  agree  to  it;  other- 
wise by  a  council,  one-half  Congregationalists  and  the  other  half  Presbyter- 
ians, mutually  agreed  on  by  the  parties. 

4.  If  any  congregation  consist  partly  of  those  who  hold  the  Congrega- 
tional form  of  discipline,  and  partly  of  those  who  hold  the  Presbyterian  form  ; 
we  recommend  to  both  parties,  that  this  be  no  obstruction  to  their  uniting  in 
one  church  and  settling  a  minister;  and  that  in  this  case,  the  church  choose 
a  standing  committee  from  the  communicants  of  said  church,  whose  business 
it  shall  be,  to  call  to  account  every  member  of  the  church,  who  shall  conduct 
himself  inconsistently  with  the  laws  of  Christianity,  and  to  give  judgment  on 
such  conduct,  and  if  the  person  condemned  by  their  judgment  be  a  Presby- 
terian, he  shall  have  liberty  to  appeal  to  the  presbytery;   if  a  Congregational- 


The  MiscJiicvojis  Plan  of  Union.  37 

ist,  he  shall  have  liberty  to  appeal  to  the  body  of  the  male  communicants  of 
the  church.  In  the  former  case,  the  determination  of  the  presbytery  shall 
be  final,  unless  the  church  consent  to  a  further  appeal  to  the  synod,  or  to  the 
General  Assembly  ;  and  in  the  latter  case,  if  the  party  condemned,  shall  wish 
for  a  trial  by  a  mutual  council,  the  cause  shall  be  referred  to  such  council. 
And  provided  the  said  standing  committee  of  any  church  shall  depute  one  of 
themselves  to  attend  the  presbytery,  he  may  have  the  same  right  to  sit  and 
act  in  the  presbytery,  as  a  ruling  elder  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.'" 


now  THE   PLAN  CA.ME  TO  BE. 

Of  course,  this  well  meant,  but  exceedingly  ill-advised, 
scheme  for  Christian  union  and  co-operation  did  not  spring 
up  by  accident  and  of  a  sudden,  but  was  rather  the  last  step 
in  a  series  of  causal  forces.  For  example,  in  that  generation 
a  quite  general  movement  was  in  progress,  both  in  the  New 
World  and  in  the  Old,  looking  to  the  intimate  affiliation  of 
sundry  Protestant  bodies  in  various  forms  of  missionary  work 
at  home  and  abroad.  The  London  Missionary  Society,  formed 
in  1795,  at  first  included  Churchmen,  Wesleyans,  Presb}-teri- 
ans  and  Independents.  When  all  these  came  together  in  a 
great  assembly  and  found  themselves  of  one  heart  and  mind, 
the  spectacle  was  so  novel  and  inspiring  that  the  tide  of  no- 
ble enthusiasm  rose  and  swelled  and  overflowed,  and  one 
brother  in  his  ecstasy  declared  that  the  funeral  of  bigotry  was 
being  celebrated  then  and  there!  On  this  side  of  the  Atlan- 
tic the  American  Board  and  a  half  score  of  union  societies 
were  another  portion  of  the  outcome.  But  as  far  back  as 
1774,  Ezra  Stiles  and  Samuel  Hopkins,  New  England  Con- 
gregationalists  both,  laid  before  the  Synod  of  New  York 
and  the  Scottish  General  Assembly  a  proposition  looking  to 
co-operation  in  sending  certain  missionaries  to  Africa,  which 
but  for  the  Revolution  would  have  been  adopted.  Then  fur- 
ther, the  two  denominations,  dwelling  side  by  side  in  several  of 
the  colonies,  had  discovered  that  at  various  points  they  had 
much  in  common.  Some  years  before  they  had  entered  into 
friendly  ecclesiastical  intercourse,  which  had  now  developed 


38  Congregationalism  in  Ohio. 

to  such  an  extent  that  delegates  appointed  by  cither  to  visit 
the  gatherings  of  the  other  were  received  to  full  member- 
ship even  to  voting  pozoer.  Besides,  of  late  in  the  presence 
of  antagonists  dreaded  by  both,  to  wit,  Episcopacy  and  Uni- 
tarianism,  they  had  come  closer  together  for  mutual  defence. 
And,  what  constitutes  the  feature  of  their  case  for  which 
they  ought  to  have  been  most  ashamed,  the  Connecticut 
saints  of  that  time,  under  the  Standing  Order  and  the  Say- 
brook  Platform  had  lost  all  faith  in  the  fitness  of  the  com- 
mon people  in  the  churches  to  think  and  decide  for  them- 
selves, and  hence  a  demand  that  a  "strong  government" 
must  be  maintained  through  consociations  and  the  dominance 
of  the  clergy.  In  other  words,  the  Congregationalists  who 
helped  to  father  the  Plan  were  themselves  semi-Presbyterian. 
In  1799  a  part  of  them  had  as  good  as  renounced  the  Con- 
gregational name.  Even  to  this  day  in  some  quarters  of 
Connecticut  our  churches  are  commonly  known  as  Presby- 
terian. And  right  here  lies  the  very  head  and  front  of  their 
offending,  that  they  were  false  to  the  fundamental  principles 
of  their  church  polity. 

In  excuse  for  the  part  played  in  this  lamentable  affair  by 
the  General  Association  it  should  be  remembered  that  when 
missionary  zeal  took  shape  in  the  provisions  of  the  Plan,  this 
phase  of  evangelizing  effort  was  yet  in  its  infancy.  Vermont 
and  Eastern  New  York  had  but  just  begun  to  cry  for  help. 
The  need  of  raising  money  and  sending  men  to  the  frontier  had 
suddenly  risen  to  proportions  unanticipated  and  appalling. 
There  were  no  adequate  precedents  to  guide  in  the  most 
pressing  emergency.  Something  must  be  done,  and  that 
quickly,  for  the  thousands  of  their  kindred  perishing  in  spir- 
itual destitution  in  the  wilderness.  Under  the  circumstances 
it  could  hardly  be  expected  that  they  should  plan  calmly 
and  with  the  prescience  of  statesmen.  Their  gaze,  not 
strangely,  was  fixed  upon  the  mere  present  and  the  immedi- 
ate future.     What  marvels  of  growth  and  achievement  the 


The  Mischia'ous  Plan  of  Union.  39 

closing  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  destined  to  be- 
hold throughout  the  imperial  area  of  our  Republic  was  hid- 
den wholly  from  their  gaze,  just  as  it  was  also  from  that  of 
the  most  sagacious  and  far-seeing  of  their  contemporaries. 
When  Jefferson  could  afllrm  that  the  space  between  the  At- 
lantic and  the  Mississippi  would  doubtless  afford  ample  room 
for  all  our  population  for  at  least  five  hnndrcd  years,  we  need 
not  be  surprised  that  the  plain  preachers  and  laymen  who 
united  to  fashion  a  plan  for  the  conduct  of  home  missions, 
set  one  on  foot  which  while  well  enough  for  days  of  pioneer- 
ing, with  settlements  small  and  scattered,  the  population 
limited  and  removed  but  a  step  from  poverty,  would  utterly 
break  down  and  work  grievous  mischief  when  communities 
large  and  strong  had  come  into  existence.  But  all  the  same, 
the  fathers  ate  sour  grapes  and  the  children's  teeth  were  set 
on  edge.  The  iniquity  (blunder,  that  is,  so  colossal  as  al- 
most to  constitute  a  crime)  of  the  fathers  is  visited  upon  the 
children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  generation.  The  final 
suggestion  is  that  neither  one  of  the  high  contracting  parties 
to  the  Plan  of  Union  had  as  yet  attained  to  any  considera- 
ble degree  of  forceful  and  aggressive  denominational  con- 
sciousness. Connecticut  Congregationalists  were  acting  only 
for  themselves.  For  yet  fifty  years  there  was  no  American 
Congregationalism.  And  until  1789  Presbyterianism  had 
not  advanced  beyond  the  local  and  provincial  stage  of  the 
synod  and  the  presbytery. 

THE  WORKINGS  OF  THE  PLAN. 

When  the  pioneers  entered  northern  Ohio,  with  few  ex- 
ceptions only  two  religious  classes  were  represented.  Some 
had  emigrated  from  Pennsylvania,  so  close  at  hand,  who 
were  Presbyterians  and  of  Scotch-Irish  descent.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  course,  when  in  communities  composed  wholly  or 
mainly  of  these,  churches  were  organized,  the  majority 
shaped  the  polity  according  to  Presbyterian  rules  and  were 


40  Coiigrcgationalisvi  in   Ohio. 

duly  provided  with  ruling  elders,  session,  etc.  Of  this  ec- 
clesiastical type  the  Youngstovvn  church  was  the  first  speci- 
men and,  by  a  few  months,  seems  to  have  antedated  our 
Austinburg  organization.  But  in  almost  all  quarters  of  the 
Reserve  the  case  was  different.  The  population  was  derived 
mainly  from  Connecticut  or  her  neighbor  states,  so  that  no 
doubt  of  those  who  sought  church  fellowship,  with  occasion- 
al exceptions,  from  three-fifths  to  four-fifths  were  Congrega- 
tional in  sentiment.  Therefore  naturally  it  came  to  pass  that 
in  many  cases  churches  were  formed  upon  purely  democratic 
principles,  with  all  authority  lodged  in  the  body  of  the  broth- 
erhood, and  all  important  questions  settled  in  public  by 
discussion  and  a  majority  vote.  But  just  about  as  often  it 
occurred  that  preference  and  conviction  as  to  church  govern- 
ment were  found  widely  divergent  in  the  same  company  of 
disciples.  The  number  of  Pennamites  and  of  Pilgrims  might 
be  nearly  equal,  or  on  the  one  side  was  the  heavier  vote, 
while  on  the  other  were  a  few  determined  and  persistent 
spirits  who  would  scheme  day  and  night  to  have  things  ec- 
clesiastical fashioned  according  to  their  ideas.  As  a  result 
of  this  condition  which  occurred  in  scores  of  cases,  divers 
compromises  were  contrived  which  resulted  in  a  class  of 
churches  neither  Congregational  nor  Presbyterian  in  form, 
but  a  mixture  of  both.  Here  evidently,  with  human  nature 
as  commonly  constituted,  were  supplied  in  rich  abundance 
opportunity  and  provocation  for  endless  debate  and  unseem- 
ly strife.  The  mere  denominational  name  was  something  of 
importance.  Now  ruling  elders  would  be  appointed  and  or- 
dained, or  a  standing  committee  to  rule  with  the  pastor,  and 
later  after  long  agitation  and  much  bitter  feeling,  a  revolu- 
tion would  occur  with  only  plain  deacons  to  care  for  the 
spiritualities.  Several  churches  can  be  named  v\'hich  changed 
their  internal  polity  a  half  dozen  times  in  a  generation  and 
in  the  end  were  found  in  an  almost  hopeless  state  of  ex- 
.haustion. 


The  Mtschiivoiis  Plan  of  Union.  41 

Then  it  soon  became  e\-ident  that  some  form  of  asso- 
ciation must  be  provided,  both  for  fellowship  and  for  co-op- 
eration in  good  works.  The  Plan  in  anticipation  of  this 
need  made  express  mention  of  such  bodies  as  both  parties 
to  the  contract  were  familiar  with.  A  majority  of  the  male 
members  should  vote  to  be  "under  the  care"  of  either 
Presbytery  or  Association.  But,  behold!  while  the  latter 
were  far  away  in  the  liast  and  over  the  Allcghenies,  the 
former  were  standing  with  open  doors  just  across  the  Penn- 
sylvania line,  with  bounds  able  to  hold  the  entire  Northwest 
if  need  be  !  Redstone  Presbytery  was  created  in  1781,  from 
it  the  northern  portion  was  separated  in  1793,  forming  Ohio 
Presbyter}',  out  of  which  also  Erie  Presbytery  was  carved  in 
1 80 1  with  Eastern  Ohio  under  its  jurisdiction.  Hartford 
Presbytery  followed  in  1808  commissioned  especiall}- to  safe- 
guard the  kingdom  on  the  Reserve,  some  of  whose  ministers 
were  transferred  from  Erie.  Mr.  Badger  had  early  connect- 
ed himself  with  presbytery.  In  1805  a  few  ministers  and 
churches  desiring  some  sort  of  affiliation  and  communion 
had  ventured  to  organize  the  Ecclesiastical  Convention  of 
New  Connecticut,  which  held  several  meetings.  But  then, 
as  if  conscience-smitten,  or  fallen  from  the  grace  of  faith  in 
the  Congregational  way,  they  asked  the  Hartford  judicature 
to  take  their  weakling  under  the  protection  of  its  mighty 
arm.  Which  thing  was  duly  done,  and  for  long  years  we 
hear  no  more  of  Congregationalism  in  these  parts,  except 
as  it  appears  in  the  life  of  the  individual  churches.  Facilis 
decensus  Averni :  The  fashion  soon  became  fixed  and  uni- 
versal for  our  churches  to  join  presbytery  at  once,  in  all  hu- 
mility and  obedience  receiving  therefrom  creed,  covenant 
and  rules  of  practice.  It  was  common  for  a  committee  of 
presbytery  to  be  sent  to  constitute  the  new  body.  Delegates 
were  dispatched  to  sessions  of  presbytery,  bearing  also  the 
records  to  be  examined.  They  must  meekly  receive  counsel 
or  reproof,  make  reports  as  to  their  growth    and    condition, 


42  Congregationalism  in   Ohio. 

pay  their  pro  rata  share  of  the  commissioners*  fund' to  the 
General  Assembly,  and  in  the  annual  report  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  the  names  of  all  these  Congregational  bodies 
appeared  regularly  as  forming  a  constituent  part!!  And 
worst  of  all,  it  at  length  came  to  pass  that  Congregational 
churches  could  neiiJicr  call  nor  dismiss  pastors  ivithont  first 
securing  the  consent  of  presbytery  !  !  So  far  from  gospel 
liberty  had  our  churches  lapsed.  i\nd  too  many  rejoiced  to 
bear  this  yoke  of  bondage. 

Then  as  to  the  working  of  the  Plan  on  the  clerical  side. 
They  also  were  to  connect  themselves  at  their  pleasure  with 
presbytery  or  association,  and  which  of  the  two  was  a  mat- 
ter of  indifference.  But  it  came  out  that  ministers  from 
New  England  were  so  complaisant,  so  accommodating,  or 
so  lacking  in  either  conviction  and  sound  discretion  that,  in- 
stead of  creating  their  own  organizations,  they  simply 
dropped  into  such  as  they  found  already  at  hand,  presby- 
teries to  wit."'  And  then  also,  from  1806  to  1812  the  minis- 
terial supply  from  the  East  almost  wholly  failed.  During 
one  period  the  Connecticut  Society  had  but  a  single  repre- 
sentative upon  the  Reserve,  while  Pennsylvania  Presbyterian 
preachers  were  sent  in  to  occupy  the  needy  field.  All  these 
had  a  horror  of  the  "irregularities"  and  the  "looseness"  of 
Congregationalism,  believed  unquestionably  in  a  "strong 
church  government,"  and  had  the  courage  of  their  convic- 
tions. Nor  was  their  faith  without  works  to  match.  Rev. 
Thomas  Barr  is  the  most  conspicuous  specimen,  and  let  his 
chef  d'oeuvre  belonging  to  a  most  critical  and  decisive  occa- 
sion, set  forth  the  serious  disadvantage  under  which  our  pol- 
ity labored  when  brought  into  unnatural  conjunction  and  en- 
tanglement with  other  ecclesiastical  organizations.  Church 
history  contains  not  many  spicier  or  more  suggestive  pas- 
sages than  are  supplied  in  the  story  of  the  transaction  writ- 

*  Pi'of.    Henry  Cowles,  an    unimpeachable    authority,  affirms    that    "for 
thirty  years  almost  every  minister  was  drawn  into  the  Presbyterian  church." 


TJic  Mischievous  Plan  of  V)iion  43 

ten  by  the  chief  actor  himself.  In  18 14  the  time  had  come 
to  form  some  sort  of  a  body  upon  the  Reserve  in  which  the 
churches,  now  become  quite  numerous,  could  be  associated. 
By  this  time  also  CongrcL^ationalism  had  risen  to  a  clear  pre- 
ponderance, and  the  general  judgment  was  that  an  associa- 
tion should  be  established.  In  fact  Mr.  Barr  stood  well  nigh 
alone  in  thinking  differently.  But  when  the  hour  for  final 
decision  arrived  so  strenuous  was  he,  so  affectingly  did  he 
plead  his  case,  that  the  Yankees  succumbed  to  the  last  man.* 
At  first  a  compromise  was  attempted  and  the  "Consociated 
Presbytery  of  New  Connecticut"  was  contrived.  But  when 
the  Synod  of  Pittsburgh  was  asked  to  recognize  this  un- 
heard of  ecclesiastical  creature  a  refusal  was  sent  back  (Jesus 
I  know,  and  Paul  I  know,  but  who  are  ye.?),  and  as  a  result 
a  Congregationalized  kind  of  establishment  was  set  up  known 
as  Grand  River  Presbytery,  which  was  divided  in  181 8,  a 
part  becoming  the  Presbytery  of  Portage,  from  this  latter 
Huron  was  set  off  in  1823,  and  finally  two  years  later  the 
pile  was  made  complete  by  the  organization  of  the  Synod 
of  the  Western  Reserve.  As  for  the  ministers,  some  pres- 
ently came  to  prefer  a  system  which  gave  them  station  and 
authority  above  the  brethren.  And  in  after  years  when  from 
various  causes  the  Congregational  name  without  sufficient 
reason  came  to  be  a  synonym  for  heresy  and  manifold  fol- 
lies, for  mere  reputation's  sake,  and  to  avoid  suspicion,  not 
a  few  clung  more  closely  to  presbytery. 

At  first  and  all  along  it  had  been  so  that  the  Plan  failed 
to  find  universal  favor  from  New   England   immigrants  to 

*We  find  the  same  spirit  displayed  on  both  sides  up  in  Michigan  when  a 
score  or  so  were  to  have  a  church  formed  composed  of  Congregationalists 
with  but  a  single  exception,  but  notwithstanding,  out  of  the  process  by  some 
magic  Presbyterian  it  came.  Again  in  Ohio  a  similar  minority  of  one,  and  a 
woman  at  that,  with  tears  and  prayers  wrought  the  same  phenomenal  result. 
All  which  recalls  the  deed  of  the  historic  Hibernian,  who  bringing  into  camp 
as  prisoners  a  baker's  dozen  of  the  foe  and  asked  to  explain  the  modus  oper- 
andi, replied  that  he  had  simply  surrounded  them  and  so  compelled  surrender. 


44  Congregationalism  in   Ohio. 

Ohio.  In  no  narrow,  bigoted,  sectarian  spirit,  they  loved  the 
popular  type  of  gospel  rule  to  which  they  had  from  child- 
hood been  accustomed,  and  brought  no  disposition  to  ex- 
change it  for  another  less  liberal  and  more  cumbered  with  le- 
gal rules  and  precedents.  Many  accepted  the  disagreeable 
situation  because  they  had  been  told  and  believed  it  was  but 
a  makeshift  which  would  soon  have  its  day  and  cease  to  be. 
The  tide  setting  towards  presbytery,  however,  rose  so  high 
as  to  be  exceedingly  hard  to  stem.  But  when  in  the  thir- 
ties dissatisfaction  with  the  operation  of  the  existing  eccles- 
iastical regime  had  become  quite  general,  and  here  and  there 
a  church  determined  to  break  away  from  outside  dictation 
and  manage  its  own  concerns  according  to  its  own  judg- 
ment and  convictions,  yet  another  and  hitherto  unsuspected 
element  of  the  Plan  came  to  light.  It  was  sufficiently  easy 
to  enter  in,  but  it  was  now  found  to  be  oftentimes  a  most 
serious  matter  to  undertake  to  depart.  For  the  former  a 
majority  vote  of  the  church  would  suffice,  but  the  ruling 
was  laid  down  by  the  presbyteries  that  only  by  a  vote  which 
was  unanimous  could  the  church  withdraw.  A  handful,  a 
minority  of  one,  would  be  recognized  as  the  original  body. 
And  when  majorities  would  protest  against  such  tyranny,  the 
outcome  would  be  division,  and  two  warring  bodies  in  the 
same  locality.  Cases  like  this  occurred  on  the  Reserve  by 
the  dozen.  Some  churches  faced  death  rather  than  remain, 
and  others  died  in  the  effort  to  escape,  while  still  others, 
formed  in  later  years,  taking  warning  by  what  their  neigh- 
bors had  suffered,  refused  to  unite  with  any  organization, 
and  stood  aloof  in  isolation.  Bear  in  mind,  it  was  a  plan  of 
"Union,"  and  behold  its  fruits.  After  a  generation  had 
passed  the  territory  under  view  contained  Plan  of  Union 
churches  in  quite  large  numbers,  and  all  these  others  be- 
sides :  Free  Congregational,  Union  Congregational,  Ortho- 
dox Congregational,  Evangelical  Congregational,  Free  Inde- 
pendent Congregational,  Presbyterian-Congregational,  Free 


Times  of  Ton  pest.  45 

Presbyterian;  and  as  if  these  were  not  enough,  Independent 
Presbyterian  also.  It  is  difficult  indeed  to  see  how  in  the 
absence  of  the  Plan  evils  half  so  many  or  so  great  could 
have  befel.  This  appears  to  have  stood  for  the  highest  v.'is- 
dom  to  be  mustered  from  the  combined  heart  and  brain  of 
two  denoininations  in  the  opening  decade  of  the  century  ; 
it  is  fervently  to  be  hoped  that  we  their  sons  in  the  closing 
decade,  in  planning  for  the  maintenance  and  spread  of  the 
Gospel  in  our  land,  will  not  be  left  of  heaven  to  contrive  any 
scheme  which  shall  be  productive  of  results  more  disastrous. 


TIMES  OF  TEMPEST. 

We  enter  now  upon  the  second  period  of  our  denomina- 
tional history  in  the  state,  of  which  the  forties  constitute  the 
central  portion,  though  the  decade  preceding  and  the  one 
following  are  included.  The  herculean  task  of  felling  the 
"forests,  subduing  the  soil,  of  laying  the  foundations  of  all 
manner  of  institutions,  political,  social  and  religious,  was  now 
largely  completed.  This  commonwealth  was  just  about  to 
make  the  perilous  transition  from  early  youth  to  the  stalwart 
vigor  and  achievement  of  adult  years.  In  order  to  under- 
stand the  manifold  besetments  of  our  churches  it  is  necessa- 
ry to  recall  that  this  same  portion  of  the  century  is  easily  the 
most  remarkable  period  in  American  history.  At  least  for 
intense  and  universal  uneasiness,  excitement,  agitation,  and 
•overturning,  and  that  in  every  realm  of  thought  and  action. 
The  nation  had  just  attained  to  phenomenal  bigness  by  the 
annexation  of  Texas  and  other  northern  states  of  Mexico, 
California  included,  and  by  establishing  our  claim  to  Oregon 
had  secured  an  empire  beyond  the  Rockies.  Then  followed 
the  joyous  and  most  exhilarating"  assurance  of  national  great- 
ness in  store,  a  future  majestic  and  sublime  of  which  the 
fathers  had  never  dreamed.     A  swelling   tide  of  humanity 


46  Congregationalisin  in  Ohio. 

was  pouring  into  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  pushing  towards 
the  western  sea.  Democracy  had  now  become  a  most  pal- 
pable fact.  The  people  verily  held  the  seat  of  supreme  pow- 
er. Multitudes  went  wild  over  financial  speculations.  An 
intellectual  new  birth  occurred.  The  American  mind  was 
stirred  to  the  depths  and  seemed  to  take  on  new  capacities. 
A  surprising  transformation  came  to  the  national  character. 
Of  course  much  that  resulted  was  crude  and  inchoate.  Cost- 
ly experiments  were  tried,  not  unattended  with  transgression 
and  folly.  It  was  only  through  boundless  confusion  and 
chaos  that  old  evil  things  could  pass  away. 

More  particularly,  in  the  religious  sphere  there  was  end- 
less disorder,  and  tumult,  and  bitter  strife.  Resulting  large- 
ly from  the  revivals  so  extensive  and  of  such  tremendous  in- 
tensity and  power,  which  attended  the  preaching  of  evangel- 
ists like  Finney.  Missionary  zeal  was  wondrously  quickened, 
and  the  spirit  of  philanthropy.  A  portentous  crop  of  here- 
sies sprang  into  life,  coarsest  counterfeits  of  the  good.  It 
was  now  that  Mormonism  entered  upon  its  career  so  malefi- 
cent and  monstrous.  Reformers  were  over-abundant  and  in- 
conveniently active.  Every  tenth  man  held  a  panacea  for 
all  human  ills.  Only  follow  him  and  lost  Eden  would  be  re- 
stored, or  better,  the  blessed  millennium  would  be  ushered  in. 
Temperance  and  anti-slavery  now  forged  to  the  front,  the  last 
for  length  and  breadth,  depth  and  height,  fervor  and  steadi- 
ly increasing  energy  far  surpassing  any  other  reform  of  which 
this  country  has  had  knowledge.  Differences  of  doctrine 
and  church  polity  were  developed.  Liberals  and  conserva- 
tives, high  church  and  low,  strict  and  loose  constructionists 
entered  into  fierce  debate  and  struggle  for  mastery.  While 
some  clung  desperately  to  old  conceptions  and  phrases,  oth- 
ers at  any  cost  would  have  a  creed  which  smacked  of  democ- 
racy and  nineteenth  century  convictions.  Those  therefore 
were  days  of  wholesale  schism  and  rending  asunder.  Scarce- 
ly a  denomination   escaped.     The   Society   of  Friends  split 


Times  of  Tempest.  47 

into  orthodox  and  Hicksite,  the  Baptists  into  mission  and 
anti-mission  (hard  shell),  as  well  as  along  Mason  and  Dix- 
on's line.  From  the  Methodists  sloughed  off  the  Methodist 
Protestant,  the  Wesleyan  and  the  M.  E.  Church  South.  It 
was  during  this  same  much  afflicted  generation  that  Alexan- 
der Campbell  diligently  sought  to  turn  the  theological  and 
ecclesiastical  world  upside  down,  while  William  Miller,  go- 
ing a  step  further,  would  be  content  with  nothing  less  than 
bringing  final  catastrophe  to  the  great  round  world  itself,  all 
on  strict  Scripture  principles.  A  little  later  the  "spirits" 
began  to  tip  and  rap,  to  peep  and  mutter,  and  to  bring  fear- 
ful and  wonderful  tales  from  the  unseen  realm.  Finally,  as 
if  to  cap  the  climax  of  confusion  and  ferment,  Oberlin  ap- 
pears upon  the  scene  intense,  dead  in  earnest,  aggressive, 
with  the  full  courage  of  her  convictions,  and  wielding  far  and 
wide  an  influence  unmatched  by  any  other  institution  in  the 
west.  With  her  pronounced  New  School  doctrine,  her  "  per- 
fectionism" and  her  uncompromising  anti-slavery  sentiments, 
she  was  a  veritable  firebrand,  and  to  not  a  few  a  wicked  and 
most  pernicious  troubler  of  Israel,  to  be  everywhere  de- 
nounced and  if  possible  to  be  destroyed.  Yes,  and  Come- 
outerism  then  flourished,  which  called  upon  the  truly  elect, 
that  is,  those  who  out-Heroded  Herod  in  their  denunciation 
of  slavery,  to  break  loose  from  the  Laodicean  churches  and 
form  bodies  by  themselves.  And  perhaps  among  the  strang- 
est was  the  church-unionism,  which  in  the  interest  of  fra- 
ternity and  Christian  fellowship  would  rend  churches  asun- 
der and  establish  a  new  sect  ! 

Only  a  few  examples  have  been  mentioned  from  the 
many  which  are  at  hand,  to  help  us  to  appreciate  what  sore 
trial  to  faith  and  patience  our  fathers  of  fifty  years  since 
were  called  to  endure.  All  this  terrible  stress  and  strain  fell 
upon  the  Congregational  churches  of  Ohio,  and  be  it  also 
remembered,  while  most  of  them  were  small  and  weak,  while 
many  were   isolated,  and  none  had  attained  to   maturity  of 


48  Congregationalism  in  Ohio. 

wisdom  and  spiritual  strength.  No  wonder  they  suffered 
severely  under  such  a  complication  of  evils,  and  that  in  pain- 
fully large  numbers  they  were  disheartened  at  length,  were 
broken  to  pieces,  and  overwhelmed  gave  up  the  ghost.  The 
story  of  their  sorrows  and  pains  is  full  of  pathos  as  well  as 
of  tragedy.  The  Plan  at  various  points  had  proved  a  Trojan 
horse  to  both  parties  concerned.  And  the  Presbyterians 
were  the  first  to  cry  out  in  protest.  Their  beloved  polity  was 
seriously  adulterated  by  divers  Congregational  elements. 
Authority  was  endangered,  and  liberty  and  democracy  were 
becoming  rampant.  New  England  was  pushing  herself  in 
matters  of  creed  and  church  order  at  the  expense  of  Scot- 
land. The  ministers  were  alarmingly  addicted  to  New 
School  theology.  And  these  facts  played  a  prominent,  if 
not  a  ruling  part  in  precipitating  the  schism  and  excision  of 
1837,  whereby  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  rent  in  twain. 
Years  followed  of  excited  feeling  much  to  the  disturbance 
and  demoralization  of  our  churches.  And  this  trial  Avas  one 
which  they  w'ould  have  entirely  avoided  had  they  not,  like 
poor  Dog  Tray,  been  caught  in  company  in  which  no  repu- 
table canine  had  any  business  whatsoever  to  be  found. 

When  with  others  Western  Reserve  Synod  was  cut  off 
and  cast  out  as  alien  and  unworthy,  our  churches  and  minis- 
ters in  considerable  numbers  were  minded  at  once  to  with- 
draw from  such  perilous  partnership  ;  and  would  have  taken 
their  departure  but  for  the  pleading  of  certain  New  School 
leaders,  and  so  the  greater  portion  consented  to  remain  yet 
longer  in  limbo.  But  a  movement  had  already  begun,  out- 
side of  as  well  as  within  Ohio,  and  was  steadily  gathering 
breadth  and  momentum,  which  finally  brought  complete  de- 
liverance. It  appeared  particularly  in  the  organization  of 
state  and  local  bodies  of  a  purely  Congregational  pattern. 
New  York  led  off  ia  1834  with  a  general  association,  and 
Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Iowa  and  Illinois  were  not  far  behind.. 
A   denominational    consciousness     was    slowly    but    surely 


Times  of  Tempest.  49 

coming  into  being.  More  and  more  the  churches  sundered 
their  relations  with  presbytery  and  entered  into  bodies  more 
congenial,  until  by  1850  more  than  half  were  either  asso- 
ciated thus  or  else  were  standing  in  isolation.  We  have  seen 
how  in  1806  the  Ecclesiastical  Convention  of  New  Connec- 
ticut was  formed,  and  the  Muskingum  Association  in  1809, 
but  both  being  born  out  of  due  time,  soon  perished.  No 
further  movement  was  made  until  1834  when  at  Williams- 
field,  under  the  lead  of  one  Tassey,  of  Pittsburg,  the  Inde- 
pendent Congregational  Union  of  the  Western  Reserve  be- 
gan a  brief  career,  reaching  the  second  year  an  attendance 
often  churches.  A  capital  event  occurred  in  1836,  when  at 
Oberlin,  after  a  preliminary  meeting  at  Hudson,  was  organ- 
ized the  General  Association  of  the  Western  Reserve  with 
nineteen  churches  and  seventeen  ministers,  which  number 
was  nearly  doubled  at  later  meetings.  Lorain  County  Asso- 
ciation followed  the  next  year,  whose  occupation  consisted 
mainly  in  bestowing  ordination  upon  Oberlin  theological 
students  who  from  most  ecclesiastical  bodies  found  slight 
countenance.  Before  the  close  of  this  decade  the  Associa- 
tion of  Central  Ohio  appears  and  leaves  faint  traces  as  late 
as  1845.  Marietta  Consociation  dates  from  1841,*  and  as 
well  the  Consociation  of  Portage  and  Summit  counties. 
Both  of  these  survived  until  merged  into  others  and  still  ex- 
ist. In  1843  the  Association  of  Northwestern  Ohio  began 
to  meet  and  held  several  sessions.  For  a  season  it  was 
thought  that  Western  Reserve  Association  would  supply  a 
bond  of  union  for  all  our  churches.  But  Oberlin  ideas  and 
influence  were  dominant  therein,  and  Oberlin  presently  be- 

*  After  the  demise  of  the  Muskingum  Association  the  Marietta  church 
joined  Athens  Presbytery,  and  remained  in  it  until  after  the  excision  of  '37, 
and  then  moved  resolutely  for  a  Congregational  organization.  But  the  name 
chosen  indicates  the  ecclesiastical  ideas  embodied.  It  was  modeled  quite 
closely  after  the  pattern  of  the  Connecticut  consociations,  and  undertook  to 
guard  and  regulate  the  churches,  acted  as  a  standing  council  to  install  and 
dismiss  pastors,  &c.,  &c. 


50  Congregationalisvi  in  Ohio. 

came  a  bogy  to  thousands  of  good  men,  a  synonym  for 
fanaticism,  if  not  also  for  iniquity,  and  so  an  object  of  sus- 
picion, of  fear  and  even  hate.  Several  churches  which  joined 
it  took  their  departure,  and  scores  of  others  would  sooner 
stand  alone  than  risk  their  reputation  by  entering  into  such 
questionable  fellowship.  So  the  afflicted  sons  and  daughters 
of  the  Pilgrims  found  themselves  grievously  shut  in  between 
Scylla  and  Charybdis,  the  devil  and  the  deep  sea. 

And  thus  it  came  to  pass  that  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
century  our  churches  were  beset  behind  and  before,  from 
without  and  within,  with  scarcely  a  taste  of  the  blessings  of 
peace.  Truly  those  were  days  of  campaigning  in  "the  wars 
of  the  Lord."  The  sorest  trials  of  later  years  are  as  noth- 
ing compared  with  those  of  half  a  century  since.  The  only 
wonder  is  that  the  garden  of  the  Lord  did  not  become  whol- 
ly desolate,  that  so  much  of  Christian  character  and  life 
was  able  to  survive  such  manifold  and  prolonged  strain. 
Details  of  indefinite  length  could  easily  be  given,  but  with 
only  this  very  brief  and  meagre  statement  in  mind,  who  shall 
dare  say  that  the  Congregational  polity  is  weak,  a  rope  of 
sand,  is  not  able  to  endure  the  wear  and  tear  of  excitement 
and  struggle.'*  Our  very  bitterest  pains  were  vicarious,  be- 
longing legitimately  not  to  us  but  to  others,  and  by  them  we 
were  tortured  and  wrenched  because  through  the  fault  of  our 
fathers  we  were  entangled  so  wretchedly  in  an  ecclesiastical 
system  containing  so  many  elements  so  utterly  alien  to  our 
own. 

OBERLIN'S  CONTRIBUTION. 

Mention  has  already  been  made  of  this  institution  and 
community,  the  spiritual  force  known  by  this  name,  the  no- 
table movement  which  centered  in  this  locality  ;  but  as  a 
factor  in  the  development  of  Congregationalism  in  Ohio 
it  is    of  importance  altogether  too  great   to   be   passed    by 


Obci'lin  s  Contribution.  5  i 

without  a  more  specific  mention.  Prof.  Williston  Walker 
hesitates  not  to  declare  that  "the  establishment  of  Oberlin 
College  was  a  step  of  the  utmost  importance  for  the  history" 
of  our  denomination  in  this  state.  Since  this  event  did  not 
occur  until  1833,  its  influence  was  not  felt  until  the  first 
period  was  almost  ended.  Nor  can  it  be  denied  that  for  a 
season  at  least  it  seemed  to  most  to  be  an  exceedingly  un- 
welcome hinderer,  and  to  make  confusion  worse  confounded. 
A  blessing  indeed  it  was,  but  hidden  for  the  time  behind  a 
deep  disguise.  As  early  as  1834  a  rumbling  as  of  distant 
thunder  is  heard  from  Hudson  and  Western  Reserve  College. 
Oberlin  was  an  intruder,  a  trespasser,  a  poacher  upon  her 
preserves.  The  next  year  a  louder  outcry  was  heard  when 
Finney,  declining  a  call  to  Hudson,  cast  in  his  lot  with  her 
rival  ;  Lane  Seminary  also  joining  her  voice  because  some 
thirty  rebellious  students  had  taken  themselves  to.  that  pre- 
posterous village  in  the  woods  of  northern  Ohio  to  finish 
their  theological  course.  Late  in  1838  the  central  branch 
of  the  American  Education  Society,  located  at  Hudson,  re- 
fused aid  to  Oberlin  students  who  were  preparing  for  the 
ministry,  for  by  this  time  "perfectionism"  was  taught  and 
lived  in  Oberlin  colony.  In  '40  Huron  Presbytery  refused  to 
license,  refused  even  to  examine,  James  H.  and  F.  H.  Fair- 
child,  and  all  because  they  declined  to  declare  that  they  did 
not  believe  "in  the  doctrines  taught  at  Oberlin  and  in  their 
way  of  doing  things."  The  next  year  the  same  body  hurled 
thirteen  resolutions  at  this  seat  of  Satan,  closing  with  the 
affirmation  that  no  Oberlinite  could  "consistently  call  him- 
self a  Presbyterian  or  Congregationalist  of  the  New  P2ng- 
land  stamp,"  and  that  it  was  "inexpedient  for  the  churches 
to  employ  ministers  known  to  entertain  such  sentiments," 
These  outrageous  heretics  must  be  ostracised  and  driven  be- 
yond the  pale  of  Christian  fellowship.  In  '41  also  appeared 
a  card  signed  by  seven  men  from  tlie  I£ast,  all  wise  and  good, 
testifying  that  they  had  attended  a  commencement  in  the  no- 


52  Congregationalis7ti  in   Ohio. 

torious  town,  and  actually  discovered  nothing  to  object  to,, 
but  much  to  commend.  "All  are  industrious,  cherish  the 
spirit  of  inquiry,  and  exhibit  a  pure  and  elevated  morality 
and  piety."  In  '42  up  from  Richland  Presbytery  went  to 
Western  Reserve  Synod  an  overture  seeking  a  settlement  of 
the  question  whether  baptism  administered  by  an  Oberlinite 
might  be  accounted  valid.  A  committee  sat  upon  it  and  re- 
ported that  the  errors  of  that  body  are  very  great  and  ex- 
ceedingly dangerous  and  corrupting  in  their  tendency.  Such 
ministers  should  by  no  means  be  admitted  to  orthodox  pul- 
pits, "  nor  should  members  of  such  churches  be  admitted  to 
co7iu)i7iiiioii  unless  they  renounce  their  errors  and  give  evi- 
dence of  true  faith  and  holiness.''  But  the  validity  of  bap- 
tism does  not  depend  upon  the  character  of  the  administra- 
tor. The  synod  finally  laid  the  report  on  the  table,  on  the 
ground  that  "  Oberlinism  was  not  yet  sufficiently  developed" 
to  justify  a  definitive  judgment. 

As  showing  how  utterly  beside  themselves  multitudes 
of  sensible  people  were  found  in  those  days,  we  smile  as 
we  read  how  the  session  of  the  Fredericktown  Presbyterian 
church,  when  a  member  of  that  body,  a  student,  would  join 
the  church  of  which  the  arch-heretic  was  pastor  wrote  : 
"We  cannot  conscientiously  recognize  the  so-called  church 
of  Oberlin  as  a  part  of  the  visible  church  of  Christ  on  ac- 
count of  its  exceedingly  corrupt  doctrines."  So  they  could 
not  grant  her  a  letter.  When  she  left  home  her  character 
was  good.  She  has  been  in  Oberlin  so  long  they  cannot 
vouch  for  it  now,  but  they  have  learned  that  she  "disavows 
some  of  the  doctrines  laid  down  in  the  standards  of  our 
church." 

In  '44  a  convention  of  Plan  of  Union  churches  was 
held  in  Cleveland,  to  which  orthodox  Congregational 
churches  were  invited,  one  of  whose  objects  was  still  further 
to  hedge  in  this  fountain  of  evil  and  protect  the  saints  from 
its  pestiferous  malaria.     Two  years  later  the  western  Con- 


Oberliiis  Contribution.  53' 

gregationalists  met  in  convention  at  Michigan  City,  and 
again  was  Oberlin  left  in  outer  darkness.  Through  all  this 
decade  it  was  a  common  thing  both  cast  and  west  for  asso- 
ciations to  declaim  and  warn  against  the  heresy  which  went 
forth  from  Finney,  Mahan,  Cowles  and  their  fellows.  But 
by  the  beginning  of  the  fifties  the  bulk  of  the  odium  and 
fear  had  disappeared.  The  explanation  of  this  strange  phe- 
nomenon is  to  be  sought  in  such  facts  as  these  :  Oberlia 
had  no  love  for  the  Plan  of  Union,  and  stood  for  Congrega- 
tionalism pure  and  simple,  while  to  the  colleges  at  Hudson 
and  Marietta,  and  Lane  Seminary  at  Cincinnati  the  Plan 
was  all  that  could  be  desired.  Again  Oberlin  was  anti-sla- 
ver)'-, received  colored  students,  countenanced  co-education 
of  the  sexes,  etc.  Radical  New  School  doctrine  was  also 
taught  there  which  to  conservatives  was  most  pernicious. 
"Perfectionism"  too,  was  rampant  for  a  season,  and  to  many 
frightened  spirits  meant  antinomianism  and  immorality- 
Mr.  Finney  was  the  greatest  of  revivalists  and  multitudes 
did  not  approve  of  his  methods  and  style  of  preaching.  And 
the  criticism  was  made  more  piquant  because  during  the  first 
few  years  certain  fads  and  hobbies  had  their  day  which  bor- 
dered too  closely  upon  the  extreme  and  irrational. 

But  if  in  some  respects  and  for  a  season  Oberlin  seemed 
to  be  mainly  a  mischief-maker,  this  is  but  the  least  of  her 
achievement,  and  is  as  nothing  compared  with  the  positive^ 
varied  and  most  weighty  services  she  has  rendered.  For 
ten  to  fifteen  years  to  some  extent  she  was  (often  innocent- 
ly) the  occasion  of  scandal  and  strife,  but  for  almost  half  a 
century  her  critics  have  been  hard  put  to  it  for  facts  whereon 
to  base  their  charges,  while  since  the  sixties  her  name  has 
been  held  in  highest  honor  by  all  who  knew  her.  To  set 
forth  briefly  and  but  in  part  the  benefits  derived  by  our  Zion 
from  this  source  :  Oberlin  has  from  the  first  and  all  along 
been  true  to  Congregational  principles.  Liberty,  equality, 
fraternity,  there  has  been  no  sinning  against  these.     Democ- 


54  Congregationalisvi  in  Ohio. 

racy,  the  idea  and  conviction,  not  that  "lam  as  good  as 
you,"  and  so  am  to  have  my  way  and  prosper  at  your  cost 
if  need  be;  but  this  instead,  "You  are  as  good  as  I";  that 
is,  your  welfare  and  moral  judgments  shall  be  held  sacred  like 
my  own.  No  caste  distinctions  have  been  recognized.  Black 
and  white,  male  and  female,  rich  and  poor  have  always  met 
on  the  common  plane  of  redeemed  humanity.  All  stand  on 
a  level,  but  it  is  one  resulting  from  a  marvelous  process  of 
leveling  up.  As  to  liberty,  freedom  of  the  will  has  been 
emphasized  both  as  a  theory  and  a  practice.  Investigation 
and  discussion  have  been  encouraged  to  the  utmost.  A  sub- 
lime confidence  has  been  reposed  in  the  truth,  while  if  only 
the  light  were  turned  upon  them,  there  has  been  no  fear  of 
error  or  falsehood.  No  over-cautious  binding  of  students 
and  teachers  by  pledges  has  been  in  vogue,  but  good  sense 
and  an  enlightened  conscience  have  been  relied  upon.  Hunt- 
ing of  heresy  has  never  been  at  all  popular  in  these  parts. 
That  is  to  say,  Oberlin  has  stood  from  the  first  for  catholici- 
ty of  Christian  sentiment  and  sympathy.  Only  let  one  pos- 
sess the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  manifestly  be  engaged  in  doing 
his  work,  and  it  sufficed.  The  creed  of  the  Oberlin  church, 
and  that  of  the  Western  Reserve  Association  were  designed- 
ly made  to  minify  the  differences  between  Calvinism  and  Ar- 
minianism,  and  to  admit  all  true  followers  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 
As  between  Old  and  New  School,  of  course  Oberlin  pro- 
nounced mightily  for  the  latter.  Comparativ^ely  little  was 
cared  for  theories,  but  much  for  conduct.  The  well-being 
of  humanity  was  most  precious,  and  so  reform  of  every  kind 
had  a  large  place  in  the  thought  and  desire  and  action  of  ev- 
ery day  life.  Oberlin  also  stood  sturdily  for  spirituality  and 
evangelism.  And  finally,  the  founders  and  builders  bestowed 
all  their  influence  in  favor  of  ecclesiastical  organizations 
fashioned  upon  purely   Congregational  principles.*     It  may 

*Writing  in  1863  Prof.  Henry  Cowles  testifies  :  The  Oberlin  theological 
alumni  have  stood  up  a  noble  phalanx   for  the  polity  of  the  New  Testament 


Oberlins   Contribittion.  55 

be  at  the  outset  only  making  a  virtue  of  necessity,  for 
presbytery  and  Plan  were  antagonistic  to  the  upstart  in- 
stitution. Churches  were  closed  against  its  teachings,  and 
license  and  ordination  were  impossible.  But,  whatever  the 
impulse,  the  motive,  all  the  same  Obcrlin  did  much  to  bring 
the  Plan  to  abolition. 

But  how  were  these  convictions  and  this  spiritual  force 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  churches  of  the  state  so  as  to 
affect  them  in  any  considerable  degree .''  And  especially  when 
so  generally  the  very  name  was  hateful  and  odious,  a  by- 
word and  hissing?  In  replying  to  this  pertinent  question  we 
must  recall  that  the  work  undertaken  and  carried  on  with 
amazing  energy  was  in  several  respects  altogether  unique. 
In  the  institution  were  included  various  departments  adapted 
to  almost  every  grade  of  intellectual  development.  It  was  a 
people's  college,  with  a  preparatory  department  below  and  a 
theological  seminary  above,  and  women  were  welcome  as 
well  as  men.  The  special  object  to  be  furthered,  as  selected 
by  the  founder,  was  preparation  of  ministers  and  teachers 
for  their  exalted  tasks.  And  almost  at  once  youths  of  both 
sexes  began  to  come  by  hundreds  and  by  thousands,  and 
who  to  a  great  extent  were  residents  of  Ohio.  The  demand 
for  trained  teachers  was  in  those  days  very  great.  The  long 
vacation  was  placed  in  the  winter  months,  and  at  its  begin- 
ning out  hastened  the  would-be  pedagogues,  north,  south, 
east,  west,  by  wagon  loads  and  stage  loads,  on  horseback 
and  on  foot ;  to  be  gone  for  months,  boarding  in  the  homes, 
each  in  close  contact  with  scores  of  youthful  minds  and 
hearts.  And  somehow  it  was  that  for  the  most  part  they 
were  so  inspired,  so  filled  to  overflowingwith  the  Oberlin  spirit, 
which  was  also  the  spirit  of  Congregationalism,  that  scores 
on  every  side  were  certain  to  catch  the  inspiration.  Besides, 
a  number  of  their  pupils  were  sure  sooner  or  later  to   find 

and  the  Pilgrims.  Out  of  two  hundred  it  would  not  be  easy  to  find  one  who 
has  swerved  from  these  good  old  paths. 


56  Congregationalism  in   Ohio. 

their  way  to  the  wonderful  fountain  of  learning.  Hundreds 
went  out  thus  every  year  sowing  the  good  seed,  and  in  the 
.aggregate  thousands  during  the  first  generation.  Scores  and 
hundreds  of  theological  students  preached  up  and  down  here 
and  there  in  Ohio,  supplying  pulpits  during  their  course  and 
afterwards  becoming  pastors.  Churches  not  a  {^w,  sonne  of 
them  among  our  prominent  ones,  have  never  had  pastors 
of  other  than  Oberlin  sentiments  and  training.  Then  also  a 
steady  stream  of  influence  went  out  from  the  faculty  as  they 
toiled  so  abundantly  on  the  Sabbath  and  in  revival  efforts. 
Nor  must  the  Oberlin  Evangelist  be  forgotten,  which  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century  made  its  semi-monthly  visit  to  multi- 
tudes of  homes  and  was  read  with  greatest  eagerness.  Finally, 
who  that  ever  saw  the  great  congregations  for  weeks  and 
months  together  and  worshipped  with  them,  could  forget  the 
•experience.''  and  the  remarkable  company  of  the  earnest- 
hearted  men  and  women  both  in  the  institution  and  the 
community.''  Though  there  was  no  proselyting,  though  the 
word  was  seldom  spoken,  this  was  Congregationalism  omni- 
present, dominant  and  at  its  best.  No  long  and  hot  cam- 
paign of  open,  unblushing  propagandism  would  have  been 
half  so  successful.  Oberlin's  part  in  the  spread  of  our  prin- 
ciples and  polity  from  the  Lake  to  the  River  supplies  mate- 
rial for  a  noble  story,  which  as  yet  awaits  a  worthy  historian. 


PHASES  OF  EARLY  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

It  is  necessary  to  suggest  at  the  outset  that  the  setting- 
forth  which  follows  is  based  almost  exclusi\'ely  upon  the 
records  of  the  older  churches,  and  hence  though  truthful  so 
far  as  it  goes,  is  at  the  best  but  a  partial,  a  one-sided,  a  frag- 
mentary statement  of  the  facts  in  the  case.  Only  such  mat- 
ters are  alluded  to  as  such  documents  would  naturally  con- 
tain, and  it  is  not  from  its  records  that   the  truest,  deepest 


Phases  of  Earl  J  Religious  Life.  57 

life  of  a  church  can  be  reproduced.  The  aim  however  has 
been  to  call  attention  only  to  what  was  characteristic  of  the 
Christian  men  and  women  of  Ohio  during^  the  first  half  cen- 
tury, and  typical  of  the  times.  Let  it  be  remembered  all 
along  that  those  were  for  the  most  part  plain  people,  pio- 
neers, dwelling  on  the  frontier  and  in  the  forest,  with  society 
and  all  manner  of  institutions  in  a  crude  and  formative  con- 
dition. The  evidence  is  abundant  that  their  minds  and 
hearts  were  often  cast  in  a  narrow  mold,  and  that  the  aver- 
age life,  whether  in  the  intellectual,  social  or  spiritual  sphere, 
was  of  a  grade  comparatively  low.  They  possessed  an 
energy  which  was  uncultured  and  rude,  so  that  their  aims 
were  often  better  than  their  methods  of  performance.  There- 
fore we  need  not  be  surprised  to  learn  that  during  the  first 
years  of  the  century  even  the  Yankee  saints  on  the  Reserve 
were  beset  in  revival  services  by  that  phenomenal  "  religious  " 
infliction  known  as  the  "Jerks,"  which  originated  in  the 
most  benighted  regions  of  Kentucky.  Scores  together  would 
be  suddenly  seized  with  trembling,  would  fall  and  lie  for 
hours  in  a  trance.  The  old  Puritan  spirit  long  survived,  so 
stiff,  solemn  and  stern,  the  spirit  that  is  of  the  Law  rather 
than  of  the  Gospel.  Calvinists  were  they,  and  orthodox  to 
the  backbone,  which  traits  were  not  softened  in  the  least  by 
the  potent  influence  of  presbytery.  No  toleration  was 
allowed  to  heresy.  A  Methodist  woman  might  join  a  cer- 
tain church  on  condition  that  she  swallow  the  doctrine  of 
election.  A  brother  was  kept  under  the  hetchel  for  two  mor- 
tal years  by  a  charge  of  denying  the  doctrine  of  the  trinity, 
but  was  acquitted  when  it  came  out  that  he  only  denied  the 
existence  of  three  Gods.  They  had  no  use  in  their  churches 
for  Mormons,  or  Universalists,  or  Perfectionists,  or  Spiritual- 
ists, or  Adventists,  "   or  "even  so-called  Disciples"  (Camp- 

*  Well  might  the  churches  fall  into  a  panic  when  for  several  years  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  Reserve  such  ravages  from  Spiritualism  were  reported,  and 


58  Congregationalisui  in  Ohio. 

belHtes).  They  had  great  faith  in  the  spiritual  tonic  sup- 
plied by  days  of  fasting,  humiliation  and  prayer,  and  not  sel- 
dom resorted  to  the  same.  On  one  such  occasion  the  pastor 
was  instructed  to  formulate  a  detailed  confession  of  the  sins 
of  the  church,  which  also  after  amendment  was  adopted  by 
vote  and  read  from  the  pulpit.  They  believed  heartily  in 
the  grace  of  discipline  for  church  members  to  bring  them 
back  from  their  derelictions  and  trespasses,  as  well  as  in 
specific  rules  and  pledges  to  hold  them  to  the  practice  of  vir- 
tue and  piety.  That  is,  godliness  was  to  be  secured  by  ec- 
clesiastical statute.  Every  church  joining  presbytery  was 
supplied  Vv'ith  a  copy  of  certain  "Rules  of  Practice,"  which 
set  forth  authoritatively  and  in  detail  what  the  brethren 
ought  and  ought  not  to  do.  When  one  organization  had 
sadly  fallen  away  from  faith  and  good  works  and  found  itself 
in  a  very  evil  case,  a  committee  was  chosen  to  contrive  a 
plan  whereby  it  might  be  returned  from  its  long  captivity. 
And  what  should  be  done  but  bring  in  a  set  of  twenty-one 
resohitions,  lengthy,  and  containing  a  bill  of  particulars 
which  covered  the  entire  moral  law,  and  also  every  duty  to 
self,  to  brother  man  and  to  God  (and  would  cover  several 
pages  of  this  pamphlet),  even  to  "plainness  in  dress,  and 
cleanliness  and  neatness  in  person,"  "not  to  loiter  at  the 
door  of  the  sanctuary,  and  to  offer  seats  to  strangers."  But 
in  spite  of  this  heroic  remedy,  not  to  say  because  of  it,  in- 
side of  three  months  that  same  church  had  lapsed  into  a 
state  of  worse  than  semi-somnolence,  into  a  paralysis  which 
lasted  for  five  years,  during  which  no  services  were  held! 
One  church  enacted  that  the  congregation   should  "sit  in- 

in  one  church   of  a   hundred   mzmhtvs  Jifly  were   swept   away  by  the   excite- 
ment. 

From  another  church  two  women  were  cut  off,  of  whom  one  avowed  her 
fixed  determination  not  to  live  with  her  husband  since  she  was  now  living  in 
"  the  resurrection  state,"  and  the  other  had  left  her  husband,  asserting  that 
"she  was  married  to  Christ."  Later,  however,  both  were  restored,  and  be- 
cause it  was  judged  they  were  insane  when  they  said  and  did  such  things. 


Phases  of  Early  Rc/i\(^ious  Life.  59 

dining  forward  in  prayer  and  stand  while  singing,  and   that 
all  should  sing  who  were  able." 

And  as  for  church  trials,  the  harvest  of  them  never 
failed.  Here  too  presbytery  made  itself  felt  in  bane,  by  in- 
troducing the  spirit  and  methods  of  the  court  room.  With 
the  New  Testament  in  mind  and  the  life  of  Jesus,  it  makes 
one's  flesh  creep  to  read  the  citations  to  trial,  the  charges 
and  specifications.  All  is  unsympathetic,  bloodless  and  cold, 
and  calculated  not  to  soften  but  to  provoke.  It  was  not  at 
all  unusual  to  put  the  witnesses  under  oath.  The  rule  was 
common.  Public  confession  for  public  offences,  and  the  pen- 
itent one  must  read  his  confession  in  the  Sunday  congrega- 
tion, except  that  sometimes  the  pastor  was  allowed  to  per- 
form this  function  for  a  female  offender.  Sentences  of  ex- 
communication were  also  read  from  the  pulpit.  Immorali- 
ties so  gross  and  scandalous  as  nowadays  not  to  be  men- 
tioned in  good  society,  in  those  primitive  days  were  thus  ob- 
truded into  the  sanctuary.  "Breach  of  covenant"  was  a 
common  phrase,  and  included  such  wickedness  ("crimes" 
was  a  common  term)  as  absenting  one's  self  from  the  public 
services,  especially  from  the  communion,  together  with  neg- 
lect of  secret  and  family  prayer.  With  such  cases  the  records 
overflow.  It  was  counted  a  most  serious  matter  to  vow 
thus  and  not  to  keep.  Nor  was  Sabbath-breaking  less  of- 
fensive in  their  sight.'"^  The  Rules  of  Practice  specified  trav- 
eling, visiting,  likewise  "the  collecting  of  hay  or  grain  and 
attending  to  any  part  of  the  business  of  making  sugar," 
among  occupations  which  should  be  eschewed  upon  the  day 
of  rest.  A  certain  conscienceless  or  heedless  brother  pre- 
sumed to  take  a  steamboat  from  Cleveland  bound  for  the 
west,  and  later  applying  for  a  letter,  it  was  withheld  until 
he  should  either  explain  or  repent.     It  staggers  our  faith  in 

*  When  a  law  was  passed  compelling  postmasters  to  receive  and  open  Sun- 
day mails,  one  church  forbade  any  member  to  accept  the  office  of  postmaster, 
or  to  take  either  letters  or  papers  from  the  office  on  that  day. 


6o  Congregationalism  in   Ohio. 

the  all-around  excellence  and  strength  of  our  fathers  to  note 
how  common  were  sins  of  the  flesh  like  drunkenness  and 
sexual  immorality.  With  this  fact  in  mind  it  is  not  easy  to 
resist  the  conviction  that  the  present  generation  is  less  un- 
der the  dominion  of  animal  appetites  than  were  the  genera- 
tions which  laid  the  foundations  for  our  Zion.  And  one's 
faith  is  fearfully  shaken  in  the  value  to  religion  of  church 
trials  as  too  often  conducted.  The  records  indicate  that  the 
weak  and  erring  were  oftener  simply  made  worse  by  being 
set  upon  and  taken  to  task  in  a  formal  and  public  way,  and 
that  about  as  often  as  otherwise  one  trial  led  to  a  second 
and  that  to  a  third,  or  to  a  long  succession,  by  which 
churches  were  shattered  and  brought  to  ruin. 

Dancing  was  a  standing  cause  of  trouble.  One  winter 
an  entire  county  went  fairly  wild  over  sleigh  riding  so  that 
the  preachers  were  compelled  to  cry  out  in  exhortation  and 
warning.  One  brother,  deacon  that  he  was,  confessed  that 
he  had  imbibed  too  freely  of  cider,  which  through  the  coop- 
eration of  the  tobacco  in  which  also  he  had  indulged,  caused 
him  to  stagger  and  his  tongue  to  wag  in  silly  talk.  His  ca- 
reer ended  in  excommunication.  In  '38—9,  during  the  course 
of  the  "  Patriot  War,"  another  who  was  a  justice  of  the 
peace,  visited  Canadian  soil  with  hostile  intent,  suffering  also 
some  Government  arms  to  be  purloined  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. Nor  had  he  refrained  from  attendance  at  a  ball 
which  held  at  a  tavern,  being  thus  in  alarmingly  close  prox- 
imity to  liquor,  had  lasted  well  nigh  till  break  of  day.  Of 
course  he  was  taken  to  task,  but  strangely  was  cleared,  the 
evidence  going  to  show  that  he  meant  no  evil.  It  was  in 
Oberlin  and  in  the  days  of  the  "Covenant,"  that  a  trial  en- 
sued from  drinking  tea  in  contravention  of  the  terms  of  that 
document.  A  woman  was  accused  to  the  Church  by  her 
husband  of  these  three  offences  :  (a)  She  was  cold  towards 
him;  (b)  she  refused  to  get  his  supper,  especially  on  one  oc- 
casion, and  (c)she  also  refused  to  wash  his  trousers.     She 


^Phases  of  Early  Religions  Life.  6 1 

was  not  convicted.  One  was  charged  with  wetting  his  hay 
before  selling  it,  and  another  of  grossly  over-charging  his 
pastor  for  a  quarter  of  beef,  and,  as  was  proper,  the  rogue 
was  compelled  to  disgorge  at  the  rate  of  half  a  cent  per 
pound.  Perhaps  the  most  notable  verdict  on  record  was 
rendered  when  a  church  fined  a  member  $i.oo  for  picking 
up  chesnuts,  presumably  upon  his  neighbor's  land. 

The  status  of  women  and  children  affords  a  fair  test  of 
the  quality  of  a  civilization.     Our  fathers  seem  to  have  had 
a  grudge  against  the  weaker  sex,  perhaps  on  account  of  the 
unhappy  part  played  by  it  in  the  far-off  Eden.     At  least,  in 
the  religious  realm  the  sisters  were   relegated   to   the  back- 
ground.    The  famous  Plan  settled  it  that  only  "to  the  body 
of  the   male   communicants"    should   an    aggrieved    church 
member  appeal  from  the  judgment  of  the  standing  commit- 
tee.    In  the  churches  there  was  no  uniform  practice  as  to  fe- 
male suffrage.     Probably  in  most  cases  the  men  alone  were 
expected  to  vote  on  important  questions.      In  one  case  sev- 
eral discussions  were   held    upon   the  eligibility  of  woman- 
kind, and  the  matter  was  laid  on  the  table  as  a  question  too 
tough  to  be  mastered.     But  in  another  case  it  was  given  out 
that  on  a  certain  weighty  subject  they  must  vote.     Again,  a 
company  of  them  were  excused  from  voting  because  of  scru- 
ples in  their  own  minds  as  to  whether  it  would  be  proper  for 
them  to  drop  the  ballot  or  show  the  hand.     And  one  of  the 
rules  of  practice  ordained  that  "when  circumstances  do  not 
render  it  improper,  female  heads  of  families  should  read  the 
Scriptures  and  pray  in  their  families."      As  to  children,  the 
churches  had  little  place  for  them,  at  least  in  their  member- 
ship.    They  were  to  be  baptized,  and  trained  in  the  homes, 
disciplined    freely  with    the   rod,   and   duly   catechized,    and 
then — why,  wait  for  an  "experience."      It  was  laid  down   in 
the  Rules  that  parents  should  "govern  and  restrain,  and  di- 
rect them  by  parental  authority  to  attend,  whenever  circum- 
staces  will  permit,  catechetical  lectures   whenever  appointed 


62  *  Congregationalism  iyi  Ohio 

by  the  pastor  or  the  church."  Moreover,  "parents,  and  oth- 
ers who  are  members  of  the  church  having  the  care  of  bap- 
tized children,  shall  be  accountable  for  their  religious  instruc- 
tion and  government,  and  for  any  evident  neglect  of  their 
duty  shall  be  as  liable  to  discipline  as  for  any  offence  what- 
ever." As  late  as  the  fifties  one  church  voted  to  purchase 
catechisms  enough  to  supply  every  famil}-,  and  later  sent  off 
an  order  for  eight  dozen.  And  yet,  somehow,  that  church 
did  not  greatly  prosper.  But  so  rarely  were  persons  of  ten- 
der years  received  into  the  churches  that  one  clerk  made 
mention  of  the  notable  fact  that  a  number  of  children  wished 
to  join  and  one  was  voted  in  ;  and  later  that  a  boy  of  ten 
presented  himself,  and  a  youth  of  thirteen. 

There  is  no  space  to  speak  at  all  at  length  of  the  tug 
our  churches  had  in  endeavoring  to  inaugurate  various  re- 
forms. Of  course  anti-slavery  was  one  which  created  most 
of  a  stir,  and  scarcely  a  book  of  records  ean  be  found  that 
does  not  contain  ample  evidence  that  Ohio  Congregational- 
ism was  never  unsound  at  this  point.  Temperance  caused 
more  of  'a  struggle,  but  presently  became  as  prevalent.  As 
early  as  '27  Painesville  adopted  resolutions  against  ardent 
spirits,  and  Fitchville  in  '34  voted  itself  a  "temperance 
church."  Some  churches  introduced  a  pledge  into  the  cov- 
enant, though  many  others  hesitated  about  going  so  far.  It 
is  evident  that  need  there  was  of  calling  a  halt  upon  the 
drinking  customs  of  the  time.  In  Strongsville  in  '33  it  was 
decided  "that  for  brethren  to  treat  electors  with  ardent  spir- 
its in  consideration  of  their  voting  for  them  for  some  civil 
office,  shall  be  considered  a  breach  of  Christian  duty  and  an 
offence  deserving  of  discipline."  When  Charlestown  was 
about  to  build  its  lirst  sanctuary  a  barrel  of  whisky  was 
promised  towards  it  on  certain  conditions.  "  Moral  reform  " 
in  the  forties  meant  what  social  purity  means  to  us,  and  ex- 
cited deep  interest.  The  regular  distribution  of  tracts  was 
held  in  high   honor   in    some   parts.     Divers  churches  were 


Dawn  of  Better  Days.  63 

puzzled  to  know  if  agents  soliciting  for  the  various  benevo 
lent  societies  should  be  tolerated,  and  not  a  few  decided  not 
to  countenance  their  visits.  One  church  decided  to  hear  no 
more  sermons  read  from  the  Oberlin  Evangelist,  but  later  re- 
pented and  was  again  edified  thereby.  The  indications  are 
various  that  too  often  the  service  of  song  was  in  a  deplora- 
ble case.  One  of  the  Rules  of  Practice  recommends  to  "  heads 
of  families  that  singing  of  praises  to  God,  when  it  can  be 
performed  with  propriety,  be  considered  a  part  of  family 
worship."  Instruments  were  wanting,  while  books  and 
knowledge  of  music  were  also  about  as  conspicuous  by  their 
absence.  This  is  easily  however  the  most  forlorn  case  at 
hand.  A  Sunday-school  in  Huron  county  actually  survived  to 
the  end  of  a  long  summer  term  with  one  time  onlj^to-wit,^^  Ba- 
lerma,"  raised  aloft  in  praise,  and  likewise  a  solitary  hymn, 
namely,  "Alas,  and  did  my  Saviour  bleed.?"  As  standing  for 
straitened  conditions  of  another  sort,  when  a  new  pastor  was 
called  to  a  community  which  shall  be  nameless,  it  was  voted 
"to  allow  him  the  privilege  of  boarding  promiscnously  w^ith 
the  members  for  one  year."  Prayer  followed  immediately, 
as  was  most  becoming  after  such  action. 


DAWN  OF  BETTER  DAYS. 

With  the  incoming  of  the  fifties  the  indications  began 
to  multiply  on  every  side  that  the  worst  was  over,  the  force 
of  the  tempest  was  well  nigh  spent;  after  a  long  period  of 
fearful  disturbance  the  elements  were  settling  into  equilibri- 
um and  quiet,  the  clouds  were  scattering  and  gleams  of  sun- 
shine began  to  break  through.  The  material  environment 
of  the  churches  had  changed  for  the  better  in  divers  jmport- 
ant  particulars.  Ohio  was  frontier  no  longer.  The  acreage 
of  the  farms  now  much  surpassed  that  of  the  forests.  Even 
the  great  ague-smitten   region   of  the   Black  Swamp  in  the 


64  Congregationalism  in  Ohio. 

northwest  had  been  drained  and  opened  to  the  healing  sun- 
light. Within  a  few  months  of  each  other  three  important 
lines  of  railroad  had  been  completed  ;  the  Cleveland  and 
Pittsburg,  the  Cleveland,  Columbus  and  Cincinnati,  and  the 
Lake  Shore  and  Michigan  Southern,  together  making  com- 
munication easy  both  between  the  Lake  and  the  River,  and 
also  between  the  East  and  the  West.  Thus  was  it  brought 
about  that  almost  at  once  the  state  ceased  to  be  iso- 
lated and  provincial.  The  cities  and  villages  began  to  grow 
rapidly,  a  remarkable  era  of  manufacturing  set  in,  and  for 
thousands  wealth  took  the  place  of  a  condition  in  which  a 
somewhat  straitened  financial  condition  was  the  rule. 
Through  increase  of  travel,  books,  and  newspapers,  the  av- 
erage of  intelligence  was  raised  substantially.  Thus  Ohio 
in  more  senses  than  one  emerged  from  the  woods.  Days 
ancient  and  primitive  were  past,  and  its  population  now 
numbering  2,000,000  had  fully  completed  the  momentous 
passage  into  Modern  Times.  A  revolution  precisely  simi- 
lar was  in  progress  all  the  land  over.  The  flame  of  heated 
passion  had  largely  burned  itself  out.  The  public  had  grown 
weary  of  ceaseless  warfare  and  the  weapons  were  worn  out. 
At  least  theological  bitterness  had  vastly  diminished.  Every 
conceivable  hobby  and  ism  haddiad  its  little  hour  of  noise 
and  glare,  numberless  absurd  theories  had  been  exploded, 
numberless  preposterous  schemes  had  been  put  into  practice 
and  had  come  to'grief,  and  out  of  boundless  error  and  false- 
hood truth  and  sound  sense  were  steadily  emerging.  Not  a 
few  of  the  best  reforms,  like  anti-slavery,  had  attained  to 
popularity,  and  especially  upon  the  Reserve,  could  command 
a  majority  vote.  Moreover,  within  the  denomination  itself 
fundamental  changes  were  working  themselves  into  general 
acceptance.  For  example,  at  the  Congregational  Conven- 
tion at  Michigan  City  in  '46  the  Plan  had  been  sharply  criti- 
cised as  out  of  date  and  full  of  serious  mischief  as  some- 
thing to   be   ignored   from   thenceforth   and  trampled  under 


Dawn  of  Better  Days.  65 

foot.  Pure  Congregationalism  Avas  the  best  polity  possible 
for  the  West.  And  further,  western  Congregationalists  were 
not  at  all  infected  with  doctrinal  heresy,  were  really  sound 
to  the  core,  and  as  such  were  in  every  way  worthy  of  the 
confidence,  esteem  and  affection  of  their  brethren  in  the 
East.  Meanwhile  in  most  of  the  states  where  the  denomi- 
nation possessed  any  measures  of  strength  general  associa- 
tions had  been  formed,  with  district  conferences  in  affiliation, 
and  presently,  behold,  the  starthng,  and  to  some,  horrifying 
idea  was  broached  of  bringing  the  messengers  of  the  churches 
together  in  a  National  Gathering!!  In  the  blessed  year  of 
grace  1852  such  an  one  was  even  held  in  Albany.  They 
came  with  great  hesitation,  and  suspicion  and  fear.  But  no 
division  or  conflict  occurred.  The  utmost  of  harmony  pre- 
vailed. Each  found  the  other  wholly  like-hearted,  and  suf- 
ficiently like-minded  to  be  thoroughly  loved  and  fellow- 
shipped  as  a  brother.  And  how  richly  and  sweetly  love 
flowed  forth.  How  enthusiasm  and  hope  were  kindled.  The 
Plan  of  Union  was  declared  to  be  abrogated.  Then  and 
there,  also,  significant  name,  was  organized  the  Congrega- 
tional Union,  a  church  building  society,  with  the  send-off 
soon  of  $50,000  for  the  erection  of  houses  of  worship,  of 
which  sum  Ohio  received  eventually  $8,000.  Then  it  was 
that  for  the  first  time,  two  /nindred  and  t In rty-tivo  years  af- 
ter the  Landing,  the  Congregational  churches  of  the  United 
States  joined  hands  to  further  a  denominational  object.  All 
the  rest  followed  naturally  and  in  due  season,  the  Boston 
Council  in  '65,  and  then  the  decision  to  hold  similar  gather- 
ings once  in  three  years,  not  at  all  for  legislation,  but  only 
for  fellowship,  conference  and  discussion  of  topics  of  com- 
mon interest  to  all.  It  was  a  happy  thought,  it  was  verily 
an  inspiration  from  above,  to  hold  the  first  of  the  triennial 
councils  at  Oberlin.  Both  the  institution  and  the  commu- 
nity by  forty  years  of  plain  living,  and  high  thinking,  and 
godly  doing,  had  proved  themselves  to   the  satisfaction  of  all 


66  Congregationalism  in   Ohio. 

concerned  to  be  entirely  worthy  of  the  high  honor.  With 
Oberlin  as  the  hostess  the  East  and  West  of  Congregation- 
alism met  for  a  spiritual  feast.  And  they  indeed  did  "stand 
on  the  grave  of  buried  prejudices;"  prejudices,  too,  for 
which  there  was  no  sufficient  ground.  For  shame!  It 
was  not  until  1871,  only  twenty-five  years  ago,  that  our  pol- 
ity began  to  have  a  fair  chance  to  show  what  it  was  really 
worth,  what  wonders  of  good  achievement  for  the  Kingdom 
by  the  blessing  of  God  it  was  able  to  work.  Hitherto  it 
had  but  existed,  from  henceforth  it  was  to  lead  a  life  which 
was  life  indeed. 

In  full  keeping  with  what  was  going  on  outside  was  the 
development  within  the  boundaries  of  our  state.  From  vari- 
ous causes  the  Western  Reserve  Association  was  moribund. 
Something  like  half  a  dozen  local  bodies  were  in  existence, 
but  without  any  cooperation,  each  going  on  in  its  own  way, 
thinking  only  of  its  own  puny  things.  In  1852  something 
like  201  Congregational  churches  were  in  existence,  while  no 
less  than  140  are  said  to  have  died  since  the  century  opened. 
Of  that  number  9  were  connected  with  Marietta  Consocia- 
tion, 14  were  scattered  throughout  the  southern  and  central 
portions  of  the  state,  and  160  were  located  upon  the  West- 
ern Reserve.  Of  these  70  belonged  to  presbytery,  and  90 
were  Independent,  "not  from  principle,  but  from  peculiar 
circumstances"  (evidently  according  to  the  well  known  law 
that  a  scalded  cat  fears  cold  water).  Besides  these  there 
were  18  Welsh  churches.  By  far  the  larger  number  were 
small  and  weak,  disheartened  and  disgusted,  indifferent  and 
inclined  to  suspicion  towards  their  neighbors.  As  far  back 
as  '45  it  was  noticed  that  the  larger  churches,  or  rather  the 
.churches  in  the  larger  towns,  were  mainly  Presbyterian.  At 
that  date  there  were  only  25  Presbyterian  organizations  on 
the  Reserve,  but  they  had  an  average  membership  of  120, 
whereas  the  147  Congregational  churches  averaged  only  56. 
The  wealthy,  the  ambitious,  those  who  would  move  in  the 


Dawn  of  Better  Days.  67 

"best  society,"  not  uniiaturall)- were  content  with  the  eccles- 
iastical system  which  was  aristocratic  in  its  principles.  And 
especially  when  on  leaving  New  England  they  were  warned 
that  in  the  wild  west  Congregationalism  made  only  for  dis- 
order and  general  demoralization.  What  could  be  more  de- 
liciously  absurd  than  such  facts  as  these  :  of  the  eleven  pres- 
b}'teries  upon  the  Reserve  three,  namely,  Geauga,  Medina 
and  Lorain,  contained  not  a  solitary  Presbyterian  cJmrcJi, 
while  three  others,  Erie,  Huron,  and  Portage  were  able  each 
to  muster  one.  Ashtabula  was  blessed  with  two,  and  Sum- 
mit with  three!  In  all  eight  (8)  presbyteries  together  kept 
pious  watch  and  ward  over  exactly  eight  Presbyterian  duck- 
lings, but  over  98  that  were  Congregational.  And  fortunate- 
ly, at  length  such  anomalies  had  become  too  many  and  too 
outrageous  to  be  longer  borne.*  Something  radical  must  be 
done  to  mend  matters.  The  question  was.  Who  should  lead 
in  the  movement  looking  to  unification  and  cooperation, 
what  body  representing  and  possessing  the  confidence  of 
the  churches  should  take  the  initiative.  The  Western  Re- 
serve Association  (commonly  stigmatized  as  "Oberlin")  was 
•older  and  larger  than  any  other.  When  that  organization 
met  at  Madison,  Lake  county,  in  1850  to  hold  its  fourteenth 
annual  session,  the  subject  was  brought  up,  and  the  records 
tell  us  what  action  was  taken  : 

The  Association  proceeded  to  a  free  conversation  on  its  affairs  and  pros- 
pects. There  was  a  general  impression  that  the  present  organization  was  not 
meeting  the  wants  of  the  Reserve,  and  that  some  other  organization  was  ne- 
cessary to  unite  the  growing  forces  of  free  polity,  and  promote  the  interests 
of  Congregationalism  on  the  Western  Reserve.  A  committee  was  appointed 
to  report  to-morrow  on  the  ways  and  means  to  attain  these  objects,  consisting 
of  Bros.  Avery,  Strieby  and  Wilcox.  The  next  day  the  committee  reported 
through  Bro.  Strieby  as  follows  : 

I.  Resolved,   That  in  so    far  as    we  understand  the  causes  of  these  di- 

*Or  as  one  brother  of  imaginative  make  expressed  it  in  metaphor  at  least 
emphatic  and  appropriate,  if  not  wholly  elegant :  That  no  longer  should 
"  the  Congregational  cow  "  so  abundantly,  and  continually,  and  suspiciously 
produce  "Presbyterian  milk.  "   especially  cream,  and  more  especially  butter! 


68  Congregationalisvi  in  Ohio. 

visions,  we  do  not  regard  them  as  being  of  sufficient  importance  to  keep  the- 
Congregationalists  of  the  Reserve  in  their  present  state  of  alienation  and 
separation. 

2.  Resolved,  That  we  believe  thorough  Christian  investigation  and  dis- 
cussion of  these  causes  of  offence  to  be  the  only  means  of  ascertaining  their 
insignificance  and  of  effecting  their  removal. 

3.  Resolved,  That  as  one  portion  of  the  Reserve  Congregationalists  we 
stand  ready  to  enter  into  any  ecclesiastical  organization  which,  while  it  unites 
us  with  our  brethern  on  a  platform  of  church  polity  distinctively  Congrega- 
tional and  a  creed  decidedly  evangelical,  shall  yet  leave  all  portions  of  the 
body  so  fox'med  the  free  exercise  of  their  preferences  as  to  mission  boards  and 
benevolent  and  educational  operations  in  general. 

4.  That  a  committee  of  five  be  appointed  to  confer  with  the  leading 
friends    of  Congregationalism  on  the  Reserve  and  in  its  vicinity,  in  refeience 

to  securing  a  more  perfect  union  among  Congregationalists  ;  and  that  the 
committee  correspond  with  said  persons  on  the  propriety  of  calling  a  conven- 
tion to  promote  the  interests  of  Congregationalism. 

The  committee  chosen  consisted  of  the  following  per- 
sons :  J.A.Thome,  Prof.  Morgan,  M.  E.  Strieby,  W.  B. 
Brown  and  A.  M.  Richardson.  The  Association  adjourned 
to  meet  in  June  of  '51,  but  never  met  again.  Lorain  Coun- 
ty Association,  a  sort  of  local  adjunct  to  the  other,  lingered 
on  until  August  of  '52,  when  hearing  of  a  project  for  an  or- 
ganization to  cover  Huron  and  Lorain  counties,  the  clerk  was 
instructed  to  give  letters  of  dismission  to  all  members,  and 
an  adjournment  was  taken  without  day.  Thus  Avas  indirect 
preparation  made  to  secure  an  organization  which  should 
cover  the  entire  state.  The  Albany  Convention  was  called 
for  October  of  '52.  But  Ohio  was  first  in  the  field  with  a 
convention  of  her  own.  How  fitting  that  the  venerable 
mother  of  Congregationalism  in  the  Northwest  should  have 
her  name  so  closely  identified  with  the  memorable  step  now 
to  be  taken.  The  Marietta  Consociation  was  in  good  and 
regular  standing  in  all  quarters  for  orthodoxy,  conservatism 
and  strict  ecclesiastical  decorum,  and  a  call  from  this  organ- 
ization would  be  most  likely  to  receive  a  respectful  hearing. 
At  the  annual  meeting  held  in  October  of  '5  i  the  Consocia- 
tion displayed  an   enterprise,  not  to  say  ambition,  which   is 


Datvn  of  Better  Days.  69 

refreshing.  The  General  Association  of  New  York  was  mov- 
ing for  a  national  convention,  which  was  held  the  next  year 
in  Albany,  and  Marietta  made  bold  to  invite  the  Congrega- 
tional churches  of  the  United  States  to  assemble  in  the  vil- 
lage of  that  name  on  the  Muskingum.  That  project  came 
to  grief,  but  not  so  another  relating  to  similar  affairs  nearer 
home.     For  at  the  same  meeting  it  was  : 

Resolved,  That  in  the  view  of  this  Consociation  it  is  desirable  that  a 
convention  of  the  friends  of  Othodox  Congregationalism  in  this  state  be  called 
to  consider  and  promote  the  interests  of  our  churches,  and  that  a  committee 
of  five  be  appointed  to  correspond  with  the  friends  of  Congregationalism  to 
secure  this  object,  and  to  appoint  such  time  and  place  for  meeting  as  may  be 
found  expedient. 

Three  ministers  were  chosen,  Thomas  Wickes,  William 
Wakefield  and  David  Gould,  and  two  laymen,  A.  T.  Nye 
and  Douglas  Putnam.  A  circular  was  sent  out  to  the  churches, 
and  the  responses  were  so  favorable  that  in  April  of  '52  a 
call  was  issued  for  a  convention  of  ministers  and  delegates, 
to  meet  June  23  at  Mansfield.  And  so  at  length  the  long 
agony  of  a  full  half  century  of  perplexity,  aimless  wander- 
ing, and  utterly  needless  divisions  among  brethren  was  near- 
ing  the  end. 

When  the  meeting  assembled  it  was  found  that  42 
churches  were  represented  by  40  ministers  and  33  delegates- 
One  knows  not  whether  to  smile  or  weep  to  learn  that 
the  brethren,  saintly  men  every  one,  met  with  fear  and  trem- 
bling, hardly  daring  to  hope  for  harmony,  unity,  fraternity  ; 
almost  taking  it  for  granted  that  at  some  point  damnable 
heresy  would  be  unearthed,  or  some  iniquity  to  be  denounced, 
from  which  they  must  withdraw  themselves  and  stand  aloof. 
It  was  not  possible  for  Marietta  and  Oberlin  to  agree  upon 
a  creed.  But  lo,  Prof  Henry  Cowles,  the  "  perfectionist " 
and  all  that,  was  present  at  one  of  the  sessions  of  the  com- 
mittee on  creed,  and  stunning  was  the  amazement  when  he 
declared  that  he  had  examined  the  creed  of  the  Marietta 
Consociation  and  could  accept  it  all  %vitJioiit  any  mental  res- 


70  Congregationalisvi  in   Ohio. 

ervation!  And  so  it  was  from  beginning  to  end.  No  root  of 
bitterness  appeared,  no  barriers  were  discovered  which  need 
keep  them  asunder,  no  reason  why  they  should  not  from 
henceforth  dwell  together  as  brethren  in  loving  fellow- 
ship. Which  same  blessed  thing  they  then  and  there 
undertook  to  do,  by  organizing  the  Congregational  Con- 
ference of  Ohio,  whose  name  in  later  years  was  changed 
to  Association.  At  the  first  annual  meeting  the  statis- 
tical report  gave  189  as  the  number  of  Congregational 
churches  in  the  state,  of  which  147  were  on  the  Reserve,  24 
were  located  south  and  west  of  its  boundaries,  and  eighteen 
were  Welsh.  Of  those  upon  the  Reserve  63  were  still  shel- 
tered under  the  wing  of  presbytery,  and  84  were  dwelling 
all  unsheltered  outside.  Beyond  the  limits  of  the  Reserve 
only  two  cared  to  risk  their  lives  in  a  "strong"  ecclesiastical 
system. 

Escape  had  been  safely  made  from  Egypt,  the  wilder- 
ness great  and  terrible  had  largely  been  left  behind,  a  few 
cheering  glimpses  of  Canaan  had  been  gained,  but  Jordan 
remained  to  be  crossed,  or  at  least  the  tedious  and  painful 
conquest  was  yet  to  be  made.  The  golden  opportunity 
had  been  squandered,  the  peerless  chance  to  mold  a  giant 
commonwealth.  By  the  thousand  the  "  Congregational  ele- 
ment" had  turned  Presbyterian.  A  whole  half  century  had 
been  lost.  Scores  of  churches  had  foundered  in  the  stress  of 
the  storm.  So  manifold  and  so  deep-seated  were  the  evils  re- 
sulting from  the  Plan  of  (dis)  Union  that  the  lapse  of  a  gen- 
eration would  not  suffice  to  undo  them.  Quite  soon  a  pro- 
cession started  from  presbytery  toward  the  local  conferences; 
but  many  remained  as  they  were,  some  from  vis  inertice, 
or  mere  force  of  habit,  some  from  choice,  and  some  from 
fear  of  greater  ills  if  they  wholly  identified  themsevles  with 
the  polity  of  the  Pilgrims.  In  some  cases,  also,  churches 
found  life  in  presbytery  so  comfortable  and  happy  that  they 
had  no  wish  to  agitate  the  matter  of  leaving,  on  the  princi- 


Dazvn  of  Better  Days.  yi 

pie  of  "  lettiiii^  well  enougjh  alone."  Quite  an  exodus  oc- 
curred early  in  the  seventies  when  General  Assembly  bade 
the  churches  to  "perfect  their  organization,"  that  is,  choose 
between  being  wholly  Presbyterian,  and  being  out-and-out 
Congregational.  But  forty  years  actually  passed  after  the 
meeting  in  Mansfield  before  the  last  of  these  wandering 
prodigals  came  home  to  receive  the  robe  and  ring  of  the 
penitent,  and  to  share  in  the  bountiful  feast.  Then  there 
were  scores  of  another  hapless  class,  those  which  had  had 
bitter  experience  of  presbyterial  ways,  and  escaping  alive 
went  stark  mad  over  Independency.  Lonesome  and  in  peril 
were  they,  but  sympathy  neither  gave  nor  sought,  and  fell 
into  a  wretched  Ishmaelitish  frame.  While  we  pity  them, 
and  are  not  at  liberty  altogether  to  excuse  their  offence,  yet 
it  is  not  strange  that  a  morbid  fear  was  felt  as  touching  ec- 
clesiastical intermeddling  and  tyranny.  A  volume  would 
not  suffice  to  tell  the  story.  But  these  specimen  cases,  which 
might  be  multiplied  ad  nauseam  must  suffice.  Fitchville  (to 
give  the  Presbyterian  side  of  it),  "which  had  from  its  origin 
been  a  source  of  annoyance  to  the  body  by  its  disorderly 
constitution  and  disorderly  conduct,  being  largely  independ- 
ent of  presbytery,  was  cut  off  from  its  relation.  A  commit- 
tee, however,  was  immediately  appointed  to  visit  Fitchville 
and  organize  a  Presbyterian  church  if  deemed  expedient." 
And  thus  two  warring  churches  were  found  in  a  little  ham- 
let. Happily,  however,  after  a  troubled  life  of  a  dozen 
years,  the  latter  gave  up  the  ghost.  Thompson  had  been 
caught  in  the  toils  of  the  Plan,  and  some  who  would  be  de- 
livered from  "all  higher  ecclesiastical  bodies  which  would 
usurp  authority  over  them,"  could  gain  their  goal  onl}'  by 
forming  a  "  Free  and  Independent"  church.  Later  the  two  frag- 
ments were  brought  together.  But  a  {tw  stood  out  and  were  or- 
ganized into  a  Presbyterian  church,  which  presbytery  kept  alive 
for  years  fighting  against  fate.  In  '36  Weymouth  exchanged 
presbytery   for  Western  Reserve    Association,    but  in   two 


72  Congregationalism  in  Ohio. 

years  found  associating  with  Oberlin  too  bitter  a  pill  and 
went  back.  In  '45  voted  to  leave  presbytery  and  stand 
independent,  but  failed  to  get  permission.  By  '48  becomes 
red  hot  on  anti-slavery  and  asks  the  lukewarm  presbytery  to 
flee  from  the  Sodom  of  a  pro-slavery  General  Assembly  ; 
and  when  that  body  declines  so  to  do,  in  high  dudgeon  votes, 
"we  dissolve  the  relations  between  that  body  and  this 
•church."  Birmingham  was  formed  by  a  committee  of  pres- 
bytery as  the  First  Presbyterian  church  and  elders  were  in- 
stalled (over  a  church  of  Congregationalists,  be  it  under- 
stood). Later  the  question  arises  of  leaving  presbytery 
and  changing  both  name  and  polity,  but  was  voted  down. 
Next,  presbytery  on  an  appeal  decides  against  the  church  and 
a  protest  is  entered.  Before  long  a  vote  is  carried  to  change 
the  name,  a  year  after  a  resolution  is  lost  to  withdraw  from 
presbytery,  and  finally  a  similar  resolution  carries  ncvi.  con. 
In  Williamsfield  certain  persons  ask  the  church  to  be  dis- 
missed in  order  to  form  an  independent  organization.  Are 
told  they  may,  with  the  consent  of  presbytery.  That  body 
withholds  permission,  pronouncing  the  project  "untimely 
and  forever  inexpedient."  Appeal  again  to  the  church, 
which  is  at  first  in  doubt,  but  at  length  says,  Go,  In  due 
season  asks  to  say  good-bye  to  presbytery.  But  cases  vast- 
ly worse  than  these  were  too  common.  Thus  Litchfield 
voted  to  withdraw,  with  a  Presbyterian  minister  as  modera- 
tor, Vvdio  declared  that  those  voting  thus  "  were  no  longer 
members  of  the  church,  and  had  no  right  to  vote  and  act 
with  the  church."  This  decision  was  sanctioned  by  presby- 
tery at  its  next  session.  York  church  near  by,  hearing  of 
this  gross  outrage  upon  Congregational  rights,  moved  at 
once  to  flee  from  such  domination.  In  Granville  when  Pres- 
bytery began  to  regulate  but  one  church  was  found,  and  when 
its  work  was  ended  there  were  four,  all  full  of  fight,  two  of 
them  Presbyterian,  one  Congregational  and  one  Episcopal. 
Surely  a  "weak"  polity  could   not  match  that  achievement. 


Dawn  of  Better  Days.  y^ 

Buthappil}',  not  much  longer  were  such  grievous  experi- 
ences from  such  illegitimate  causes  to  be  possible.  The 
Minutes  of  the  State  Association  supply  an  excellent  outline 
both  of  the  embarrassments  still  suffered  as  an  inheritance 
from  an  unfortunate  past,  and  of  the  steps  of  solid  and  steady 
progress  which  began  trom  1852.  Thus  in  '55  among  other 
things,  it  was  resolved  : 

That  we  cordially  invite  all  the  Congregational  churches  in  Ohio,  which 
are  not  now  associated  with  us,  to  become  connected  with  this  body,  either 
directly  or  through  a  district  conference. 

Thai  we  deem  it  eminently  conducive  to  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the 
Congregational  churches  in  Ohio  that  the  ecclesiastical  relation  of  their  pas- 
tors or  stated  supplies  should  be  Congregational  [hear,  hear  !  ]  *  and  there- 
fore affectionately  request  our  churches  to  urge  (if  need  be)  the  importance  of 
this  connection  upon  those  whom  they  employ  to  labor  with  them  in  the  gos- 
pel ministry. 

In  '57  Puritan  Conference  reports  "twelve  churches  in 
connection,  and  the  same  number  of  Congregational  churches 
belonging  to  presbytery,  with  four  or  five  independent.  Some 
of  these  do  not  unite  because  they  lean  towards  Presbyterian- 
ism  ;  others  because  they  lean  towards  Independency." 
And  Medina  Conference  :  "  Within  our  bounds  are  sixteen 
churches  ?iX\di  fragments  of  churches,  of  which  only  six  are 
in  our  connection.  Of  the  others  some  are  averse  to  coming 
into  our  body  on  account  of  painful  experience  in  former 
ecclesiastical  connections."  In  '60  eight  local  conferences 
appear  as  connected  with  the  state  body.  The  statistical 
secretary  "estimates"  the  Congregational  churches  to  num- 
ber 250,  of  which  a  round   lOO  are  in  the  Association,  75 

*The  cogent  reason  for  this  earnest  counsel  is  seen  in  the  case  of  the 
Plain  church  which  in  the  sixties  had  for  pastor  a  stiff  and  zealous  Presby- 
terian, who  one  after  another  organized  three  Presbyterian  churches  within  a 
few  miles,  largely  with  members  from  the  Plain  church,  and  which  but  for  his 
manipulation  would  have  been  Congregational.  Then,  with  impudence  al- 
most sublime,  he  suggested  to  the  Plain  people  that  being  so  weak  they 
would  better  disband  and  scatter  themselves  among  the  three  neighboring 
bodies.  To  force  this  result  he  even  put  their  services  at  such  an  incon- 
venient hour  as  to  make  it  next  to  impossible  for  them  to  attend. 


74  Congregationalism  in   Ohio. 

are  connected  with  presbytery,  and  75  are  Independent,  with 
a  membership  of  16,000.  He  tells  of  the  woes  he  has  en- 
dured in  the  effort  to  gather  statistics  ffom  the  indifferent, 
the  suspicious,  the  dogged,  and  the  recalcitrant  church  clerks 
and  others.  They  fear  him  and  the  Association  as  being 
but  popes  in  disguise,  and  all  bristling  with  designs  upon 
their  liberties,  for  which  they  will  die  sooner  than  surrender. 
This  same  exasperated  statistician  applies  the  lash  right  lus- 
tily to  the  clergy  and  laity  of  the  fifty  years  just  past  for 
their  utter  self-abnegation  and  self-stultification  which  made 
it  possible  that  "  in  the  annual  report  for  1859  of  the  Com- 
missioner of  Statistics  for  the  State  of  Ohio,  a  report  pub- 
lished by  state  authority,  there  is  not  the  least  notice  of  a 
Congregational  church  within  the  state,  though  the  commis- 
sioner expressly  asserts  that  he  gives  a  table  of  all  the 
churches  and  church  property."  The  word  Congregational 
is  not  found  between  the  covers.  Of  a  truth,  such  indigna- 
tion was  not  at  all  unrighteous.  It  is  not  until  '62,  and  after 
the  churches  had  been  associated  for  a  full  decade,  that  the 
statistics  begin  to  touch  bottom.  Tables  which  are  quite 
satisfactory  now  begin  to  meet  our  gaze.  In  'C7  at  the 
meeting  of  Association  at  Columbus  131  churches  were  rep- 
resented, and  statistics  were  given  from  173,  of  which  32 
were  Welsh,  and  12  were  unassociated.  The  ministers  num- 
bered 130  and  the  members  13,428.  It  was  during  this  de- 
cade that  the  Welsh  churches,  which  had  stood  quite  aloof 
with  over-leaning  towards  Independency,  began  to  affiliate 
with  their  American  brethren.  In  '70  first  appears  Central 
South  Welsh  Conference,  but  not  connected  until  the  year 
following,  when  Eastern  Ohio  Welsh  Conference  was  formed. 

OUR  WELSH  CHURCHES. 

These  bodies  of  Christians  are  staunch  Congregation- 
alists,  and  constitute  a  portion  of  our  fellowship  so  import- 


Our    Welsh   ChurcJies.  75 

ant  and  distinct  as  to  call  for  a  separate  and  honorable  men- 
tion. Indeed,  the  suggestion  appears  to  be  quite  in  order 
that  they  are  altogether  too  distinct  ;  that  it  would  be  alto- 
gether better  both  for  the  cause  we  have  in  common,  and  al- 
so for  them,  if  the  days  should  be  hastened  when  all  walls 
of  separation  would  be  broken  down,  and  Welsh  confer- 
ences be  heard  of  no  more.  The  beginnings  of  Welsh  In- 
dependency date  from  the  sixteenth  century  in  and  from  this 
source  was  supplied  its  full  quota  of  confessors  and  mar- 
tyrs. One  doughty  Welshman  for  conscience  sake  was  clapped 
into  gaol  no  less  than  thirteen  times.  And  another  attained 
to  immortal  fame  among  Congregationalists,  John  Penry,  a 
genuine  Puritan,  who  was  hanged  in  1593,  in  London,  be- 
cause he  would  have  it  that  the  mind  and  moral  sense  of 
man  must  be  free.  The  first  Welsh  church  with  this  free 
polity  was  formed  in  1639,  in  Monmouthshire,  with  others 
following  soon  in  Cardiff  and  Swansea.  The  first  considera- 
ble immigration  of  Welsh  Congregationalists  to  this  country 
began  near  the  close  of  the  last  century.  On  a  former  page 
mention  was  made  of  the  early  advent  of  several  families  in- 
to southwestern  Ohio,  with  the  Whitewater  church,  or  Pad- 
dy's Run,  as  the  outcome.  About  the  same  time  settlers  of 
the  same  excellent  stock  began  to  lift  up  their  axes  against 
trees  in  Licking  county.  They  appeared  early  at  Granville, 
organizing  a  church  in  '39,  another  at  Harrison,  and  a  third 
at  Newark  in  '41.  But  even  before,  in  1803,  the  year  in 
which  Paddy's  Run  was  formed,  one  David  Pugh  purchased 
some  4,000  acres  in  what  is  now  Radnor,  Delaware  county, 
which  presently  became  the  center  of  a  flourishing  Welsh 
settlement,  to  supply  whose  religious  needs  Radnor  church 
was  organized  in  1S20.  In  1818  other  colonies  fixed  them- 
selves in  Gallia  and  Jackson,  attracted  especially  by  the 
opening  mines  of  iron  and  coal.  In  '32  it  seemed  to  cer- 
tain enterprising  land-owners  about  Paddy's  Run  that  that 
section  was  suffering  from   a  plethora  of  population,  or  else 


^6  Co7igregatio  nail  sin  in  Ohio. 

they  were  allured  by  stories  concerning  the  newly  discovered 
paradise  up  in  Allen  county  on  the  borders  of  the  Black 
Swamp.  At  any  rate,  eight  families  emigrated  thither  that 
year,  located  in  Sugar  Creek  township,  and  in  '35  by  cov- 
enanting together  brought  the  Gomer  church  into  being. 
This  representative  of  our  polit}^  situated  a  few  miles  to  the 
northwest  of  Lima,  disputes  with  the  Plain  church,  just 
west  of  Bowling  Green  in  Wood  county,  the  claim  of  being 
the  oldest  in  that  newest  portion  of  the  state.  Palmyra 
township  in  Portage  county,  had  already  been  invaded  by  a 
troop  of  Welshmen  bent  on  securing  homes,  who  eventual- 
ly secured  almost  entire  possession,  bought  the  sanctuary 
of  a  dying  American  Congregational  church,  and  set  them- 
selves up  ecclesiastically  in  '34. 

In  the  meantime  the  large  cities  had  been  offering  at- 
tractions to  a  large  fraction  of  the  Welsh  immigration,  as  is 
proved  by  the  appearance  of  Washington  Ave.  (Town  St.), 
Columbus  church  in  '37;  Lawrence  St.,  Cincinnati,  in  '40, 
and  Youngstown  in  '47.  The  coming  of  Cleveland  South 
was  delayed  until  '59.  In  all  our  Welsh  churches  number 
42,  with  a  membership  of  over  3,000.  With  his  eye  upon 
those  which  were  organized  in  the  first  half  of  the  century, 
Rev.  John  P.  Williams  writes:  "They  were  blessed  with 
good  and  faithful  ministers,  who  met  their  trials  and  difficul- 
ties with  heroic  spirit,  when  the  country  was  first  settled, 
and  their  names  are  in  sweet  remembrance  in  the  churches 
as  pioneers.  Such  as  J.  A.  Davies,  of  Siloam  ;  I.  Davies, 
of  Tyn  Rhos  ;  Thomas  Edwards,  Cincinnati ;  John  Morgan 
Thomas,  Alliance  ;  D.  Davies  ;  James  Davies,  Radnor  ;  Rees 
Powell,  Troedrhiwdalar ;  J.  H.  Jones,  Delaware;  John  Ed- 
wards, Crab  Creek,  etc."  Rev.  B.  W.  Chidlaw  ranks  among 
the  heroes  for  God  in  the  state,  while  not  a  few  of  the  Welsh 
ministers  for  sterling  qualities  of  mind  and  heart,  for  earnest 
deeds  and  useful  lives,  belong  in  the  category  with  our  very 
best.     Our  Cymric  fellow  disciples  are  worshipful  and  zeal- 


Our   Welsh  Churches.  77 

ous  in  their  religious  make,  in  living-  the  gospel  probably 
they  succeed  in  everyday  life  as  well  as  the  average  Anglo- 
Saxon  saint,  while  in  singing  the  gospel  they  leave  us  far  be- 
hind. In  lifting  up  psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs 
not  many  can  match  them.  As  for  the  churches,  a  few  of 
them  are  quite  strong,  Gomer  leading  with  355  members, 
Youngstown  following  with  300,  Cincinnati  Lawrence  St. 
with  194,  Cleveland  South  with  206,  and  Columbus  Wash- 
ington St.  with  145.  Only  10  have  a  membership  of  more 
than  100,  while  22  have  less  than  50,  and  6  have  less  than 
10.  Except  in  the  cities  the  Welsh  churches  are  on  the 
whole  quite  steadily  losing  ground,  and  from  this  serious 
combination  of  causes  :  Those  in  rural  districts,  like  many 
of  their  class  all  the  land  over,  because  the  population  is  di- 
minishing ;  and  for  the  same  reason  those  in  coal  and  iron 
districts^  where  the  mines  are  failing,  or  where  strikes  and 
other  business  perturbations  make  work  and  wages  uncer- 
tain. But  with  scarcely  room  for  doubt,  the  principal  cause 
is  of  another  sort  altogether,  is  removable,  is  wholly  in  the 
hands  of  the  churches  and  pastors,  either  to  be  removed,  or 
to  be  suffered  to  remain  and  work  mischief.  With  all  their 
might  the  elders  are  likely  to  cling  to  their  mother  tongue, 
and  to  the  ways  in  which  their  fathers  \valked  in  the  land  be- 
yond the  sea.  The  fact  is  not  fully  appreciated  that  in  this 
countr}'  English  should  be,  must  be,  will  be  the  speech  of  all 
citizens.  But  the  }'Ounger  generation,  the  boys  and  girls 
born  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  are  wholly  inclined  at  any  cost 
to  be  as  their  neighbors,  at  least  as  to  the  general  features 
of  daily  practice,  in  religion  as  well  as  elsewhere.  And,  sure 
as  the  world,  this  latter  tendency  is  destined  to  prevail.  To 
this  irresistible  decree  of  fate,  rather  of  heaven,  every  de- 
nomination in  the  United  States  must  bow  in  obedience, 
sooner  or  later.  But  meanwhile  the  struggle  waxes  hot  be- 
tween the  old  and  the  young,  those  who  would  keep  things 
as  the}'  are  and  those  who  propose  to  square  themselves  to 


78  Congregationalism  in   Ohio. 

the  facts  of  the  present  and  the  future.  On  the  question  of 
Welsh  vs.  Engh'sh,  churches  are  rent  in  twain,  congregations 
dwindle  to  a  handful,  and  children  to  their  parents  are  antag- 
onistic. Reason  and  a  truly  Christian  spirit  would  seem  to 
indicate  that  the  elders,  who  at  the  best  must  soon  pass  away, 
should  make  haste  to  yield  cheerfully  for  the  lasting  and  un- 
speakable benefit  of  their  sons  and  daughters.  If  this  should 
come  to  pass,  and  then  further,  the  Welsh  conferences  as 
such  should  disappear,  it  would  be  a  day  most  blessed  for 
our  beloved  Zion.  Let  the  example  of  Paddy's  Run,  the 
mother  church,  find  many  imitators.  Several  Welsh  churches 
were  represented  when  at  Mansfield  the  State  Association 
was  formed  in  '52.  It  was  a  great  step  forward  whe^i  in  '67 
the  names  of  all  appeared  upon  the  pages  of  the  Minutes. 
God  hasten  the  day  when  Ohio  Congregationalists  shall  be 
"all  with  one  accord  in  one  place;"  when  there  shall  be 
"neither  Jew  nor  Greek,"  but  Jesus  Christ  all  in  all. 


RECENT  DEVELOPMENT. 

It  was  not  until  about  twenty-five  years  ago  that  Con- 
gregationalism in  Ohio  really  got  upon  its  feet  and  with  limbs 
reasonably  free  set  forward  upon  its  course  of  helping  to  re- 
deem and  hold  the  state  to  righteousness.  Let  us  glance  at 
some  of  the  phenomena  which  appear  in  this  period,  taking 
note  not  only  of  the  brighter  phases  of  things,  but  also  of 
such  as  are  less  pleasant  to  contemplate.  And  first,  a  steady 
and  fairly  rapid  increase  in  the  number  of  churches  can  be 
traced.  Going  back  somewhat  further,  24  were  added  to  our 
list  in  the  fifties,  counting  only  those  which  still  sur\'ive. 
During  the  sixties,  the  period  of  the  war,  but  iS  were  or- 
ganized, the  next  decade  gave  birth  to  25,  the  eighties  to  36, 
while  the  last  decade  of  the  century,  of  which  a  full  half  is 
still  future,  already  increases  the  catalogue  of  the  sisterhood 


Recent  Development.  79 

by  no  less  than  29.  The  total  of  churches  formed  since 
1850  is  132.  The  location  of  these  more  recent  comers  is 
as  significant  and  cheering  as  their  number.  This  is  the 
era  of  the  growth  of  cities,  and  our  denomination  which  in 
the  first  half  of  the  century  strengthened  itself  mainly  in 
the  rural  districts,  is  now  handsomely  redeeming  itself  by  en- 
tering in  at  the  many  open  doors  offered  by  the  chief  centers 
of  population.  At  least  60  of  the  132  are  found  in  the  cities 
or  larger  villages,  and  thus  have  a  reasonable  assurance  of  a 
long  and  prosperous  career.  Another  omen  of  good  is  found 
in  the  fact  that  we  are  more  and  more  bursting  the  bounda- 
ries within  which  our  fathers  seem  to  have  judged  we  were 
fated  to  be  confined,  the  twelve  counties  of  the  Reserve,  to- 
wit,  and  are  manifesting  both  our  right  and  our  ability  to  live 
and  thrive  in  central,  southern  and  western  Ohio.  Since  1870 
Congregational  churches  to  the  number  of  90  have  been 
organized,  and  of  these  54  are  located  in  divers  parts  of  this 
*' non-Congregational"  area.  Though  this  most  important 
undertaking  is  sadly  and  criminally  belated,  we  may  well  re- 
joice and  take  courage  that  such  progress  has  been  made. 
Yes,  and  with  our  Bohemian,  and  Swedish,  and  Finnish  and 
German  churches,  we  are  proving  ourselves  to  have  outlived 
that  mingled  heresy  and  humbug  that  our  free  polity  was  di- 
vinely ordained  for  Yankees  only.  Five  and  twenty  years 
since  our  churches  numbered  just  200,  and  our  ministers  173, 
of  whom  37  were  without  pastoral  charge.  Ten  years  later 
230  churches  were  reported,  and  182  ministers  ;  in  '90  they 
increased  to  250  and  227;  while  now  (Minutes  of  '96)  they 
stand  at  264  and  234.  The  membership  of  the  churches 
and  of  the  Sunday-schools  at  the  same  intervals  tell  the  same 
story  of  constant  advance.  In  '70  the  figures  were  respec- 
tively, 16,862  and  19,196  ;  in  '80  they  had  grown  to  23,868 
and  27,381  ;  in  '90  they  stood  at  34,633  and  37,014;  and 
according  to  the  latest  returns  they  have  climbed  to  39,052 
and  36,292. 


8o  Congregationalism  in  Ohio. 

A  marked  development  can  be  traced  in  the  increase  of 
instrumentalities  for  furthering  Christian  activity,  as  well  as 
methods  of  work.  Thus  the  various  wom.en's  missionary 
societies  have  come  into  being  and  the  Christian  Endeavor 
movement,  etc.,  etc.  Our  denominational  Sunday-school 
work  has  been  pushed  as  never  before,  thanks  largely  to  our 
Sunday-school  and  Publishing  Society  with  Rev.  W.  F.  Mc- 
Millen  as  its  devoted  representative.  Just  here  it  was  that 
not  a  few  of  our  newer  churches  had  their  beginning.  With 
such  encouragement  our  children  and  youth  are  learning  rap- 
idly to  bear  their  full  share  of  service  and  beneficent  giving. 
As  for  our  denominational  beneficences,  in  the  fifties  like  all 
our  other  denominational  affairs,  they  were  in  a  jumble.  By 
many  whose  anti-slavery  convictions  were  intense  the  Ameri- 
can Board  was  too  halfhearted  and  mealy-mouthed  to  be 
countenanced,  and  so  the  American  Missionary  Association 
was  organized  in  '46,*  which  also  did  home  missionary  work 
for  some  of  our  needy  churches  ;  and  through  various  boards 
and  committees  the  friends  of  Oberlin  were  constantly  con- 
tributing for  the  support  of  its  suspected  and  ostracised 
graduates  who  were  toiling  among  the  Indians,  and  the  ex- 
slaves  of  Canada  and  the  West  Indies.  As  we  have  seen 
the  Connecticut  Missionary  Society  entered  Ohio  in  1800, 
nor  for  three  and  fifty  years  did  it  weary  of  sending  annually 
thousands  of  dollars  to  this  needy  field.  In  all,  this  cher- 
ishing mother  commissioned  and  sustained  87  missionaries 
in  this  state,  by  whom  a  total  of  635  years  of  exhausting 
service  were  bestowed.  Twenty  of  the  number  labored  ten 
years  or  more,  eight  remained  twenty  or  more,  while  one. 
Rev.   A.    H.    Betts,    completed    a   term  of  thirty-two  years 

(1821-53). 

In  1826  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society  came 

*And  hence,  while  our  churches  are  celebrating  their  hundredth  anniver- 
sary, this  Society,  with  such  an  honorable  record,  is  calling  to  remembrance 
its  half-century  of  service. 


Recent  Development.  8 1 

into  being',  while  the  Plan  of  Union  was  in  full  sway,  and  for 
some  thirty  years  knew  no  distinction  between  Presbyterian 
and  Congregationalist.  In  '52  when  the  State  Association 
began  to  evoke  and  foster  and  fashion  and  organize  our  de- 
nominational work  in  the  state,  Rev.  Lysander  Kelsey  was 
home  missionary  superintendent  (for  central  and  southern 
Ohio,  '57-63,  and  the  entire  state,  '63-73),  ^"d  was  an  act- 
ive participant  in  the  annual  meetings.  At  the  end  of  ten 
years  the  relations  of  the  Association  and  the  Home  Mission- 
ary Society  were  found  so  unsatisfactory  that  the  project  was 
broached  of  forming  a  state  body  to  look  after  the  home 
needs,  and  in  '63  this  was  done.  Rev.  H.  M.  Storrs  was  sec- 
retary for  a  season,  and  was  followed  by  Mr.  Kelsey,  who 
then^began  to  serve  in  that  capacity.  Theyear  preceding  arad- 
ical  new  departure  had  been  taken  by  resolving,  "That  it  is 
expedient  to  organize  a  State  Home  Missionary  Society, 
auxiliary  to  the  A.  H.  M.  S.  at  New  York,"  and,  "That  on 
and  after  the  ist  of  July,  1872,  the  Congregational  churches 
of  Ohio  will  do  their  own  missionary  work."  Brave  words, 
and  no  doubt,  uttered  sincerely  in  courage  and  hope.  But 
somehow,  in  the  years  ensuing  the  deeds  failed  to  match.  In 
'73  it  was  voted  that  the  churches  ought  to  raise  $10,000  for 
home  evangelization,  and  that  no  salaried  secretary  should 
be  employed.  Only  $7,860  resulted  from  the  call,  in  part 
because  hard  times  had  struck  the  country.  In  '74  Rev. 
Samuel  Wolcott  appears  as  secretary,  and  continues  till  '8r. 
In  '75  the  day  is  spoken  of  when  "Ohio  will  be  paying  her 
own  expenses,  and  helping  A.  H.  M.  S.  in  the  regions  be- 
yond." Occasionally  it  happened  that  more  money  was 
raised  in  the  state  than  was  expended  in  the  state,  but  it  was 
sure  to  be  so  that  the  receipts  would  soon  fall  below  the 
mark  and  all  prospect  of  independence  would  vanish.  Or 
the  legacies  would  reach  a  handsome  figure,  only  to  sink  for 
several  years  to  the  zero  point.  More  than  once  hope  de- 
ferred has  made  the  hearts  sick  of  those  who  longed  for  the  en- 


82  Congregatio}ialisvi  in   Ohio 

largement  of  Zion.  In  '80  the  fact  was  published  that  Ohio 
held  the  bad  eminence  of  exhibiting  a  lower  rate  of  benefi- 
cent giving  than  any  other  state,  and  a  ^qw  years  later  that 
the  average  here  was  but  $0.30  for  each  member,  and  in  the 
country  at  large  $0.61.  In  '89  the  gifts  of  the  living  reached 
$13,158,  which  was  $3,000  more  than  O.  H.  M.  S.  had  ever 
received.  No  doubt,  it  is  just  at  this  point  that  the  outlook 
for  Congregational  Ohio  presents  its  seamiest  side  to  the  ob- 
server. How  shall  our  denominational  work,  now  an  hund- 
red years  old,  come  finally  and  forever  to  self-support  .-^  For 
years  this  lamentable  case  has  been  discussed  and  pondered 
upon,  and  diligent  search  has  been  made  for  the  seat  of  the 
trouble.  As  with  most  chronic  ailments,  the  cause  is  likely 
to  be  manifold.  Probably  no  single  statement  will  contain 
so  large  a  fraction  of  the  explanation  as  this  one  :  Of  our 
churches  only  a  comparatively  few  are  large  and  wealthy. 
The  bulk  of  them  are  below  the  line  of  self-support,  or  else 
are  just  above  it.  Of  the  total  number,  137,  more  than  half, 
have  less  than  100  members,  and  "jj  have  less  than  50.  And 
these  figures  include  the  absentees,  who  in  most  cases  con- 
stitute a  large  percentage.  More  then  half  our  churches,  then, 
are  in  the  midst  of  a  hard  struggle  for  bare  life.  Though 
their  benefactions  doubtless  might  be,  and  ought  to  be,  far 
larger,  yet  the  sad  failure  to  make  them  so  is  not  at  all  sur- 
prising. Especially  when  we  look  further  and  find  that  last 
year  5/  of  these  churches  were  reported  as  without  pastors, 
and  some  of  them  had  been  in  this  condition  for  years.* 

Recent  years  have  brought  yet  another  source  of  embar- 
rassment and  possible  serious  harm.  The  cities  are  organiz- 
ing themselves  for  local  home  missionary  work,  which  is  well, 
and  even  necessary.  Or  if  societies  are  not  formed,  the  strong 
self-supporting  churches  plan  and  push  for  new  organizations 
in  their  vicinity,  and  bestow  liberal  financial  aid.      It  is  doubt- 

*For  3-  table  of  statistics  showing  the  growth  of  Congregationalism  in 
the  state  see  page  95. 


What  of  the  Second  Century?  83 

less  in  this  way  that  the  suburbs  so  rapidly  springing  up  can 
be  cared  for  most  wisely  and  efficiently.  But  the  danger  is 
by  no  means  imaginary  that  the  vision  of  the  city  churches, 
and  so  their  interest,  their  prayers  and  their  giving  will  be 
withdrawn  from  the  general  work  of  the  state.  Large  and 
wealthy  churches  can  be  found  whose  home  missionary  ag- 
gressive energy  in  behalf  of  the  Kingdom  is  almost  wholly 
expended  upon  objects  within  two  or  three  mile'^  of  their 
sanctuary.  But  is  it  not  spiritually  damaging  thus  to  nar- 
row the  circumference  of  our  sympathies  and  our  benefac- 
tions }  And  besides,  who  then  is  to  care  for  the  farming 
communities  which  need  assistance,  and  the  smaller  towns  } 
"All  one  body,  we,"  and  so  city  should  pray  and  give  for 
the  redemption  of  country,  and  country  for  city.  Why  can 
it  not  be  so  arranged  that  the  urban  organizations  shall  be 
but  another  phase  of  the  state  body,  it  doing  the  work 
through  them,  they  auxiliary  to  it .''  Their  undertakings 
might  well  be  started  only  after  consultation  with  represent- 
atives of  the  O.  H.  M.  S.,  and  all  their  receipts  and  expend- 
itures be  regularly  reported  in  the  state  Minutes.  An  ex- 
cellent step  was  taken  last  year,  when,  after  giving  certain 
facts  and  figures  relating  to  the  state  society  proper,  a  para- 
graph was  inserted  telling  how  churches  in  six  of  our  cities 
had  expended  $4,404  upon  enterprises  in  their  immediate 
neighborhood.  But  the  strange  fact  came  out  thereby  that 
this  sum,  which  amounted  to  about  one-third  of  all  that  was 
raised  for  home  missions  in  the  state,  did  not  pass  through 
the  treasury  of  the  state  society. 


WHAT  OF  THE  SECOND  CENTURY.? 

In  a  desultory  and  fragmentary  way  we  have  traced  the 
beginnings  of  Congregationalism  in  Ohio,  and  its  unfolding 
through  the  first  hundred  }-ears  ;  making  mention  also  of 


84  Congregationalisiii  in   Ohio. 

some  of  the  strange  experiences  through  which  it  has  passed. 
Some  of  the  achievements  made  have  been  mentioned,  as 
well  as  some  of  the  short- comings  and  derelictions  of  our 
career  as  a  denomination.  Over  many  passages  of  the  his- 
tory we  may  most  fittingly  rejoice  and  be  glad.  Even  a  hum- 
ble pride  and  godly  boasting  are  by  no  means  out  of  order. 
All  along  a  guarding,  guiding  providence  may  easily  be  dis- 
covered, while  every  now  and  then,  here  and  there,  peculiar 
tokens  of  divine  favor  have  been  bestowed.  On  the  whole, 
for  at  least  a  generation,  the  lines  have  fallen  to  us  in  pleas- 
ant places.  And,  verily,  our  ecclesiastical  heritage  is  a  good- 
ly one.  Therefore  with  hearty  thanksgiving  for  the  past  let 
us  glance  once  more  at  the  present  with  especial  reference  to 
its  bearing  upon  our  opportunities  and  responsibilities  in 
years  to  come. 

We  form  a  body  of  almost  40,000  disciples  of  Christ, 
congregated  and  organized  in  more  than  250  churches.  On- 
ly four  states  in  the  Union  contain  more  Congregationalists 
than  ours  ;  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  York  and  Illi- 
nois. But  what  a  little  company  after  all  compared  with  the 
total  of  church  members  to  be  found  in  this  commonwealth, 
who  according  to  the  last  census  numbered  in  the  aggregate 
1,215,000;  or  omitting  the  Roman  Catholics  (336,000), 
879,000.  We  stand  no  higher  than  eighth  among  the  Pro- 
testant bodies.  The  Methodists  come  first  with  240,000 ; 
and  next  follow  the  Presbyterians,  164,000  (Presbyterian, 
North,  82,000)  ;  Lutherans  of  all  kinds,  90,000  ;  Baptists, 
69,000;  Christians  (Disciples),  54,000;  United  Brethren, 
53,000;  German  Reformed,  36,000  ;  Congregationalists  (in 
1890),  32,281  ;  Evangelical  Synod,  31,617;  Christian  Con- 
nection 26,000;  and  so  on  through  about  100  sects,  some 
of  them  able  to  muster  only  a  {^w  scores.  We  represent, 
perhaps,  200,000  in  a  population  of  3,672,000.  If  num- 
bers were  all  in  all,  then  we  might  well  sit  down  in  humilia- 
tion, with  slight  enthusiasm  or  courage.      But,  another  glance 


W/ia^  of  the  Second  Century?  85 

at  our  geographical  limitations  will  afford  a  further  some- 
what discouraging  aspect  of  the  situation.  In  Obcrlin  we 
are  triumphant  (though  by  no  means  rampant).  No  other 
polity  can  there  even  compete  with  ours.  About  this  com- 
munity as  a  center  a  parallelogram  30  by  50  miles  may  be 
constructed  | containing  only  a  single  Presbyterian  church, 
and  United  Presbyterian  at  that.  New  England  can  scarce- 
ly name  a  territory  to  match.  In  Cleveland  also  we  hold  an 
honorable  place,  and  whether  as  to  numerical  strength  or 
rate  of  growth  ;  while  on  the  Reserve  as  a  whole,  especially 
if  Mahoning  and  Trumbull  counties  lying  upon  the  Pennsyl- 
vania line  be  excepted,  our  case  in  many  respects  is  a  com- 
fortable one  to  contemplate. 

But,  alas,  those  twelve  counties  constitute  but  one- 
seventh  of  the  area  of  the  state,  and  within  their  bounda- 
ries are  located  five-eighths  of  our  churches.  Of  our  38,- 
328  church  members,  25,045  dwell  upon  the  Reserve,  and 
13,283  in  the  vast  howling  wilderness  {in  paj'tibns  infidel- 
unii)  outside.  Journey  westward  and  southward  and  south- 
westward  from  our  stronghold,  and  you  may  traverse  many 
miles  and  light  upon  no  church  of  our  order.  Take  the  Big 
Four,  for  instance,  and  from  Greenwich  to  Columbus,  83 
miles,  it  is  to  us  ecclesiastically  a  desert.  Go  60  miles  furth- 
er to  Dayton,  and  only  one  oasis,  Springfield,  will  be  passed. 
Again,  from  Dayton  east  it  is  80  miles  of  a  dry  and  thirsty 
land  to  Chillicothe ;  and  turning  southward  from  thence,, 
travel  about  the  same  distance  to  Ironton,  and  you  catch  but 
a  single  glimpse  of  verdure,  at  Portsmouth,  where  within  a 
twelvemonth  the  waters  have  begun  to  flow.  Blocks  of 
counties  can  be  found  on  the  map  whose  benighted  inhabi- 
tants have  not  so  much  as  heard  of  the  Congregational  name. 
Such  as  these  three,  Defiance,  Paulding  and  Van  Wert ; 
these  four,  Logan,  Hardin,  Wyandot  and  Marion  ;  this  sec- 
ond quartet,  Pickaway,  Hocking,  Fairfield  and  Vinton  ;  and 
this  section  of  nine  adjacent  counties  which,  if  Congrega- 


S6  Congregationalism  in  Ohio. 

tionalism  is  essential  to  the  highest  well-being  of  humani- 
ty, evidently  constitutes  Darkest  Ohio :  Adams,  Brown, 
Clermont,  Highland,  Fayette,  Madison,  Greene,  Clinton  and 
Warren.  The  contrast  may  be  made  in  this  way  :  On  the 
Reserve  are  Huron  county  with  lo  of  our  churches,  Lorain 
with  i6,  Medina  with  8,  and  Portage  with  12  ;  46  in  all.  Ad- 
joining them  on  the  south,  but  off  the  Reserve,  are  Craw- 
ford with  o  ;  Richland  with  5  ;  Wayne  with  i  ;  and  Stark 
also  with  I  ;  a  total  of  7.  Thus  it  is  that  while  at  the 
northeast  we  approach  sometimes  dangerously  near  to  a  con- 
gested condition,  are  inconveniently  near;  elsewhere  we  are 
so  few  and  far  apart  as  to  be  weak,  and  lonesome,  and  in 
peril  from  ecclesiastical  beasts  of  prey.  Of  course,  in  the 
cities  like  Columbus,  Toledo  and  Cincinnati  we  make  a  much 
better  showing.  Nevertheless,  in  38  counties  out  of  our  88 
no  Congregational  churches  exist,  while  in  19  more  only  one 
in  each  is  to  be  found.  Moreover,  a  certain  Ohio  city  of 
26,000  is  utterly  destitute  of  our  kind  of  preaching  and 
praying  and  thinking  and  living.  Two  others  of  11,000  for 
a  like  reason  are  to  be  commiserated,  and  two  of  10,000. 
It  is  much  to  be  feared  that  the  millennium  is  yet  far  in  the 
future ;  and  the  task  on  hand  for  the  Ohio  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  is  nothing  less  than  herculean. 

And  what  should  our  churches  do  to  mend  matters.^ 
To  answer  this  weighty  question,  and  beginning  first  of  all 
in  a  realm  quite  local  and  personal  :  If  in  any  particular 
we  have  failed  hitherto,  we  ought  to  make  haste  to  master, 
in  order  that  we  may  fully  appreciate  the  excellence  of  our 
fundamental  principles,  our  leading  ideas,  our  characteristic 
ways  of  doing.  We  bring  no  railing  accusation  against  oth- 
er denominations,  who  prize  highly  much  which  Congrega- 
tionalists  to  the  manner  born  always  and  everyv/here  eschew. 
There  are,  for  example,  those  who  dote  on  statutes  which 
are  man-made,  and  judicatories,  and  machinery,  and  forms, 
and  such  like.     So   be   it,    if  they  find  them   scriptural  and 


UViat  of  the  Second  Century?  87 

profitable,  "For  'tis  their  nature  to."  13ut  we  hold  ours, 
which  is  world-wide  away  from  theirs,  to  be  a  far  more  ex- 
cellent way.  Saul's  armor  is  well  enough  for  Saul,  but  let 
little  David  going  out  against  Goliath  stick  to  his  simple 
sling.  We  have  churches  composed  wholly  of  "  non-Congre- 
gational" material,  whose  members  were  born  and  reared  in 
communions  which  at  various  points  differ  widely  from  ours. 
Well,  they  have  much  to  learn,  and  ought  to  enter  school  at 
once.  They  need  our  denominational  literature,  even  to  our 
Congrcgationalist  and  Advance.  Only  after  these  let  the 
Ontlook  and  Independent  enter.  It  behooves  them  also  to 
seek  closest  fellowship  with  their  neighbors  through  coun- 
cils, conferences,  and  the  like.  But  even  more,  an  obliga- 
tion rests  upon  the  ministry  to  be  intelligent  and  apprecia- 
tive as  touching  our  distinctive  features.  In  heart  and  life 
continuall}-,  and  often  with  lip,  they  ought  to  exalt  our  spirit 
and  methods.  It  is  often  our  joy  and  sometimes  our  sorrow, 
our  privilege  and  also  our  pain,  that  ministers  in  such  num- 
bers are  flocking  to  us  from  other  folds.  For  many  of  these 
we  are  grateful,  and  of  some  we  are  proud.  It  is  compli- 
mentary both  to  them  and  to  us  that  they  were  inclined  to 
cast  in  their  lot  with  us,  to  join  the  glorious  company  of 
those  who  love  the  freedom  and  simplicity  of  the  Gospel, 
who  cherish  a  noble  confidence  in  human  nature  redeemed 
and  divinely  led.  But  with  too  many  we  are  simply  weight- 
ed. They  are  mere  emigrants,  transferred  and  not  trans- 
formed. That  is,  they  failed  to  bring  their  hearts.  They 
have  no  enthusiasm  for  our  best  things,  and  this,  perhaps, 
from  lack  of  accurate  and  thorough  knowledge."  From  this 
source  real  perils  come    to  our  ecclesiastical  affairs,  just   as 

*In  one  of  our  large  cities  out  of  nearly  a  half  score  of  pastors  only  a 
single  one  is  a  Congregationalist  by  birth  and  education.  Ministers  can  be 
named  who  continue  to  take  the  denominational  papers  of  the  church  they 
left,  but  have  not  begun  to  take  the  papers  of  the  one  to  which  they  have 
come.  Not  long  since  when  an  offering  was  to  be  made  for  Congregational 
home  missions,  the  "  stewards  "  were  called  on  to  receive  the  same. 


88  Congregationalisvi  in  Ohio. 

they  do  to  our  civil  institutions  from  an  influx  of  those  whose 
opinions  and  habits  and  tastes  were  fashioned  in  the  OJd 
World.  It  may  be  that  in  sheer  self-defence  our  conferences 
and  councils  will  feel  obliged  to  set  up  an  immigration  bu- 
reau, an  examining  board,  and  a  system  of  probation,  and 
only  through  them  admit  to  citizenship  with  Congregational 
saints.  At  an}-  rate,  all  who  successfully  seek  admission 
ought  to  consider  it  their  bounden  duty  at  the  very  soonest 
to  master  our  history,  become  acquainted  with  our  watch- 
words and  our  great  names,  find  out  exactly  for  what  sacred 
convictions  our  polity  stands.  It  might  not  be  an  ignoble 
ambition  even  to  treasure  up  in  the  memory  the  exact  name 
of  each  one  of  our  seven  benevolent  societies — a  height  of 
excellence  to  which  few  attain  who  enter  our  fellowship  after 
the  age  of  thirty. 

It  is  something  to  be  well  informed,  it  is  much  more  to 
practice  the  good  things  we  know.  We  ought  to  have  faith 
in  our  principles,  and  to  them  always  be  loyal.  They  have 
been  sufficiently  tested,  and  have  been  found  profitable  ev- 
erywhere and  for  all.  They  fit  exactly  the  land  and  the 
times.  Christ  is  our  only  master.  Under  Him,  inspired  and 
impelled  by  His  Spirit,  w^e  are  free  from  all  men.  But,  never- 
theless, we  are  bound  to  look  also  on  the  things  of  others, 
our  neighbors,  bound  to  be  social  and  fraternal,  to  come  to- 
gether in  league  and  cooperation.  It  is  by  no  means  enough, 
in  order  to  become  a  good  Congregationalist,  to  be  selfish, 
and  resolutely  determined  at  any  cost  to  have  one's  way. 
Congregation,  conference,  and  association,  these  are  Con- 
gregational words  which  hold  a  world  of  meaning.  Confer- 
ence is  talking  together,  and  a  conference  is  for  local  fellow- 
ship. The  Association  is  for  state  fellowship.  Through  the 
National  Councils  our  entire  Israel  holds  sweetest  and  most 
profitable  communion  from  sea  to  sea.  All  hail  the  day 
when,  through  pan-Congregational  Councils,  Christians  of 
our   name   round   the  whole   earth  shall  assemble  often  to 


ir/iai  of  tJie  Second  Century?  89 

pray  and  plan  for  the  conquest  of  liumanit)'  for  the  Lord 
Jesus  !  Through  our  noble  denominational  benevolent  so- 
cieties we  have  a  potent  means  of  fellowship  and  coopera- 
tion. We  unite  thus  to  cany  the  kingdom  to  the  ends  of 
the  state,  the  nation,  the  world.  And  thus  it  is  that  our 
sympathies  are  enlarged  and  our  desires  are  intensified. 
Even  the  best  of  our  churches  liave  much  to  learn  with  re- 
gard to  the  blessedness,  and  the  absolute  need,  of  continual 
communication  like  this,  while  too  many  churches  have 
scarcely  taken  the  first  lesson.  No  body  of  disciples  can 
prosper  spiritually  in  the  best  sense  without  a  rational  sys- 
tem of  beneficent  giving  for  the  diffusion  of  the  Gospel  at 
home  and  abroad,  a  system,  too,  which  is  conscientiously 
adopted  and  adhered  to,  and  is  pushed  with  business-like 
vigor.  It  must  center  in  the  Lord's  day  and  the  sanctuary, 
and  be  mingled  with  exhortation,  and  prayer,  and  song.  It 
must  come  near  to  the  front  among  duties  and  privileges, 
must  be  planned  for  and  prepared  for  like  any  other  matter 
of  great  moment.  The  giving,  to  be  worth  the  most  to  the 
giver  and  to  the  Kingdom,  must  be  regular,  must  be  fre- 
quent, and  consist  of  a  multitude  of  sums  of  which  each  one 
is  relatively  small.  It  will  not  answer  to  fall  short  of  Paul's 
scheme  as  laid  down  in  VIII  and  IX  of  Second  Corinthians, 
nor  in  spirit  or  letter  would  it  be  possible  to  go  beyond  it. 
When  everybody  gives,  rich  and  poor,  old  and  young,  gives 
often  of  the  pennies  and  the  nickels  and  the  dimes,  and  the 
sums  thus  secured  are  divided  among  the  various  objects  by 
a  fair  percentage, — the  American  Board,  the  Congregational 
Home  Missionary  Society,  the  American  Missionary  Asso- 
ciation, the  Congregational  Church  Building  Society,  the 
Congregational  Education  Society,  the  Congregational  Sun- 
day-school and  Publishing  Society,  and  Ministerial  Relief, — 
then  will  all  the  denominational  treasuries  overflow,  and  all 
our  denominational  enterprises  be  greatly  enlarged,  and 
strengthened,  and  made  mighty   for  the  diftusion  of  Chris- 


90  Congregationalisvi  in  Ohio. 

tianity  as  it  is  loved  and  lived  among  us.  In  particular,  if 
such  a  celestial  spirit  should  enter  our  churches  to  abide  and 
take  possession,  our  Home  Missionary  Society  would  know 
no  lack  of  funds  for  the  carrying  on  of  its  much  needed  ag- 
gressive work  in  all  parts  of  the  state. 


HOW  MAKE  THE  CENTENARY  NOTABLE. 

A  knowledge  of  history  is  good  in  great  part  because  of 
the  help  it  gives  to  right  living,  and  it  always  behooves  us  to 
make  a  practical  application  to  character  and  conduct  of  the 
facts  we  gather.  It  is  therefore  by  no  means  the  part  of 
wisdom  to  suffer  these  days  of  peculiar  privilege  and  oppor- 
tunity to  come  and  go  with  mere  talk  and  jubilation,  mere 
reminiscence  and  kindling  of  emotion.  Surely  this  centen- 
nial celebration  should  bear  fruit  in  toil  for  the  Master  of  far 
better  quality,  and  in  much  greater  abundance. 

THE    HOME    MISSIONARY  SITUATION. 

To  be  more  pointed  and  specific,  let  us  glance  again  at 
the  task  providentially  laid  upon  our  denomination  as  re- 
lated to  the  spiritual  well-being  of  this  magnificent  common- 
wealth. And  as  setting  forth  our  weakest  point,  our  most 
serious  as  well  as  most  unaccountable  dereliction,  let  us  give 
good  heed  to  the  words  of  one  who  from  almost  a  decade  of 
constant  observation  and  study  can  speak  with  an  authority 
which  is  imperative.  Who  that  knows  Dr.  J.  G.  Eraser, 
since  '87  the  gifted  and  tireless  secretary  of  our  Ohio  Home 
Missionary  Society,  his  singular  aptness  and  industry,  his 
unbounded  enthusiasm  and  consecration,  can  afford  to  pass 
by  the  paragraphs  from  his  pen  which  follow  without  giv- 
ing them  due  consideration } 

Two  years  ago  the  special  committee  said  that  "Ohio  can  never  heartily 
respect  herself  until  she  makes  and  maintains  a  record  of  $10,000  a  year  from 


How  Make  the  Centeriary  Notable.  91 

ordinary  sources,  with  normal  increase  from  year  to  year."  One  year  ago  it 
was  said,  "  the  gifts  here  reported  from  the  living  are  nearly  $1,000  behind 
the  figures  which  caused  and  seemed  to  justify  such  words."  And  now,  in 
this  Centennial  year,  the  gifts  of  the  living  have  fallen  off  $500  more,  and 
stand  at  $7,803.81,  the  lowest  point  reached  in  ten  years.  And  to  this  it 
must  be  added  that  of  this  amount  $200  represents  two  shares  in  the  Gen. 
Howard  Fund,  and  over  $300  is  from  Mrs.  Caswell's  Dime  Banks,  distributed 
a  year  ago,  leaving  less  than  $7,300  from  sources  to  be  relied  upon  from  year 
to  year.     Four  legacies,  aggregating  $4,011,  make  the  total  $11,814.81. 

This  completes  one  hundred  years  of  Congregational  life  and  history  in 
Ohio,  and  July  1st,  1S96,  the  Ohio  Home  Missionary  Society  will  enter  upon 
its  25th  year.  The  situation  which  confronts  the  Home  Missionary  Society, 
which  means  the  denomination,  is  as  grave  as  any  it  ever  encountered.  The 
work  was  never  more  urgent,  nor  insistent,  nor  hopeful.  The  ebbing  tide  of 
population  still  weakens  the  country  churches  ;  the  throbbing  life  of  the  city 
offers  opportunities  and  obligations  which  must  be  met  at  once  or  sacrificed 
forever.  Our  pathway  is  unreturning:  "Ye  shall  henceforth  return  no  more 
that  way."  The  foreigner  in  Ohio  never  needed  the  gospel  more,  nor  showed 
more  evidence  of  willingness  to  receive  it.  It  is  already  intimated  that  we 
must  soon  add  the  Germans  to  those  to  whom  we  must  give  the  gospel  in 
their  own  tongue.  Down-town  problems  and  institutional  work  link  them- 
selves with  Home  Missions  in  Ohio.  And  yet,  to  speak  in  round  numbers,  of 
$12,000,  received  last  year,*  more  than  one-third  represented  legacies, 
and  definitely  less  than  two-thirds  gifts  of  the  living  from  ordinary  sources. 
Under  the  law  of  probabilities,  legacies  will  be  few  and  small  for  a  year  or 
two  to  come,  and  under  the  amended  compact  with  the  National  Society 
which  reads:  "Provided  that  in  no  case  shall  any  Auxiliary  receive  more 
money  than  has  been  raised  within  its   bounds  for  Home  Missions  during  the 

*  Elsewhere  Dr.  F.  adds  under  the  head  of  "City  Missions":  An  item- 
imized  account  is  herewith  submitted  of  distinctive  Home  Missionary  work 
done  as  shown  by  expenditures  in  the  various  cities  of  the  State  where  Home 
Missionary  work  is  done  direct,  either  in  whole  or  in  part.  It  is  meant  to 
cover  aid  given  by  churches  toward  the  support  of  other  churches  or  missions, 
but  not  toward  lots  or  church  buildings. 

Akron,  First  Church  for  Arlington  Street $     305  05 

Cincinnati,  Congregational  Missionary  Society 316  66 

Cleveland,  City  Missionary  Society $1,131  60 

"  Euclid  Ave.  Church  for  Lakeview  Church....        401  50    1,533   10 

Columbus,  First  Church 1,415  70 

Mansfield,  First  Church  for  Mayflower 137   50 

Toledo,  First  Church  Sunday  School  for  Plymouth $400  00 

"  "  ".       for  Birmingham 100  00 

"        Central  Church  for  Birmingham loo  00       6co  00 

A  total  of ., $4,30801 

Which  should  be  added  to  the  figures  already  given,  to  fairly  represent 
our  whole  Home  Missionary  work  in  the  State,  and  making  an  aggregate  of 
$16,122.82. 


gi  Congregationalism  in  Ohio. 

year,  and  including  legacies  to  the  National  Society  contained  in  wills  dated 
subsequently  to  the  organization  of  the  respective  State  Societies,"  it  is 
doubtful  whether  Ohio  will  be  allowed  to  use  them  if  they  come.  Is  Ohio 
ready  to  plan  its  work  on  a  basis  of  $7,500? 

WHAT    SHALL  WE  DO? 

First.  Let  us  find  out  what  is  the  matter.  Is  it  the  general  financial 
paralysis,  or  something  peculiar  to  us?  Would  it  be  better  if  our  work  were 
more  thoroughly  united,  by  the  bringing  of  the  city  work,  at  least  where  city 
missionary  societies  do  not  exist,  under  the  direct  care  of  the  State  Society? 

Second.      Let  us  adopt  a  present  policy: 

1.  At  least  one  contribution  every  year  from  every  church  for  Home 
Missions. 

2.  A  wise,  deliberate,  patient,  persistent,  enthusiastic  use  of  this  cen- 
tennial year,  to  quicken  our  "Congregational  Self-Consciousness,"  and  carry 
our  gifts  over  the  bar  on  which  they  have  been  stuck  so  long,  into  the  deep 
channel. 

3.  A  larger  and  fuller  and  abiding  sense  of  our  responsibility,  our  obli- 
gation, our  opportunity,  our  privilege,  for  the  commonwealth,  the  nation  and 
the  Kingdom  of  God. 

Well,  why  not  make  the  year  memorable  by  raising  for 
home  missions  at  least  $20,000  before  April  i,  1897?  It 
can  easily  be  done  if  every  member  of  every  church  shall 
make  but  an  extremely  moderate  gift.  Why  are  not  extra 
and  special  thank-offerings  wholly  in  order ;  preceded  by 
such  an  enthusiastic  and  inspiring  presentation  of,  A  Hun- 
dred Years  of  Congregationalism  in  Ohio  as  every  pastor 
should  be  able  and  inclined  to  prepare  for  his  people.''  Let 
us  see:  We  are  an  army  some  40,000  in  the  state.  Or, 
subtracting  for  absentees,  call  it  35,000.  A  dime  from  each 
one  of  these  (a  sum  how  ridiculously  and  almost  contempti- 
bly small,  the  cost  of  a  "good"  cigar,  a  glass  of  soda  with  a 
friend,  or  a  round-trip  ticket  on  a  street  car  line)  would  bring 
$3,500  into  the  treasury  of  the  Lord,  and  which  added  to 
the  largest  sum  named  above  would  reach  the  near  neighbor- 
hood of  $20,000.  If  need  be,  let  a  conscientious  and  thor- 
ough canvass  be  made  from  house  to  house  throughout  all 
the  congregations,  by  a  committee  going  out  two  by  two, 
witli  hearts  courageous  and  faces  all  beaming  with  smiles,  with 


How  Make  the  Centenary  Notable.  93 

twenty-five  cents  from  each  as  the  ideal.  The  astounding 
outcome  would  be  no  less  than  $8,750.  And  what  substan- 
tial enlargement  to  Zion  would  presently  ensue.  Meantime 
let  some  real,  rational,  Christian  system  of  beneficent  giving 
be  introduced  and  worked  up  into  efficiency,  to  keep  the  high- 
water  mark  gained  by  the  centennial  enthusiasm,  and  Ohio's 
chronic,  perplexing,  and  provoking  home  missionary  problem 
would  be  finally  solved.  Forever  after  we  should  be  found 
paying  our  own  bills,  and  besides,  according  to  our  ability, 
also  helping  to  evangelize  the  needy  regions  beyond. 

OUR   FOUR-FOLD   WORK. 

Having  made  such  ample  provision  of  the  sinews  of  war, 
pastors  and  churches  may  well  consider  carefully  the  religious 
needs  of  the  state,  or  the  various  kinds  of  home  missionary 
work  which  need  to  be  undertaken  and  continually  carried 
on.  The  briefest  statement  of  these  must  here  suffice. 
Four  paragraphs  will  cover  them  fairly  well.  They  are  not 
by  any  means  entirely  distinct,  are  found  rather  in  close  con- 
junction and  strangely  interblended. 

1.  Work  in  the  cities  and  larger  towns.  In  these  cen- 
ters occurs  the  principal  growth  of  population.  New 
churches  must  be  formed,  and  in  almost  every  case  for  a  few 
years  must  be  nourished  from  the  outside.  Then  they  will 
become  strong  and  able  to  return  what  they  have  received, 
and  much  more. 

2.  Work  in  the  rural  districts,  where  the  population  is 
diminishing,  the  best  days  are  in  the  past,  and  the  future  is 
dark.  For  various  reasons  some  of  these  country  churches 
must  be  ministered  to  year  by  year.  It  would  be  unchris- 
tian, and  inhuman,  to  sufferthem  to  die  without  sympathyand 
help.  Nor  is  it  easy  to  decide  just  what  proportion  of  the 
funds  at  command  should  here  be  expended. 

3.  Work  for  the  foreign-born.  In  God's  providence 
they  are  here,  and  for  us  to  Americanize  and  Christianize. 


94  Congregationalism  in  Ohio. 

As  Congregationalists  we  hold  in  trust  a  priceless  boon. 
We  must  give  them  a  pure,  simple,  nineteenth-century  Gos- 
pel, and  help  them  to  use  democracy  as  not  abusing  it. 
They  are  our  brothers,  for  whom  Christ  died  as  well  as  for 
us.     Our  polity  is  profitable  for  them  as  for  us. 

4.  From  our  stronghold  upon  the  Western  Reserve, 
and  in  the  large  cities,  we  must  not  fail  to  watch  continually 
for  providential  openings  for  the  introduction  of  such  work 
as  we  can  undertake.  Ohio,  central,  and  southern,  and 
western,  is  territory  for  us  to  occupy  at  the  soonest  in  the 
Master's  name  ;  though,  thank  God,  we  have  no  call  in  the 
least  to  propagandize  and  proselyte. 

So  keeping  the  feast,  so  using  the  centennial  year  as  to 
give  a  new  impulse  to  our  denominational  development,  then 
he  who  an  hundred  years  hence  is  called  to  write  the  story 
of  the  second  century  of  Congregationalism  in  Ohio  will 
have  opportunity  to  make  mention  of  works  of  divine  grace 
and  mercy  yet  more  marvelous,  and  sublime. 


Statistical  Table. 
A    TABLE 


95 


SHOWING  THE  GROWTH  OF  COXGREGATIONAL  CHURCHES  IN 
OHIO    FOR  TWENTY-FIVE  YEARS. 


YEAR. 


1870, 
1871, 
1872. 
1873 
1874. 
1875. 
1876, 
1877. 
1878. 

1879 
1880, 
1S81, 
1882, 
1883, 
1884. 
1885, 
1886, 
1887. 
1888. 
1889, 
1890. 
I89I. 
1892. 
1893. 
1894. 
1895. 


a 

3 

u 


>93o 
,862 
,281 

.234 
,214 
,688 
715 
.719 
.057 
.392 
.367 
,868 

^859 
735 
,105 

,178 
,652 
,361 
,116 

,212 
.297 
633 
,625 
380 
.958 
328 


4S 

C 
3 
CO 


19.700 
19,196 
19.994 
19.457 
20,242 
20,437 
23,910 
25,447 
27,319 
26,690 
27,109 
27,381 
28,640 
29,166 

29.531 
30.558 
30,160 
30,025 
33.380 
35.166 
36,036 

37,014 
36,611 
36,803 

37.849 
36,292 


4,611 
7,924 
5,772 
5.230 
6,312 

5.777 

5.534 

3.869 

3,881 

4,264 

4.483 

5.396 

6,743 

8.818 

11,095 

9,148 

9,089 

12,252 

17,624 

21,407 

12,943 
15,302 
15,464 
15,160 
17,540 
16,123 


5  o 


48,125 
64,104 
51.144 
47.114 
50,664 
50,065 
36,678 
37.449 
36.435 
41,726 

36,387 
63.548 
64.821 
58,162 
56,870 
44.148 
49.305 
50,766 

59.295 
67,260 

64,414 
70,245 
79,883 
62,102 

63.739 
65.397 


-fiW 


169,432 
226,346 
165,820 
22 1 ,907 
212,983 
197,466 
291,147 
195-730 
217.833 
213,914 
213,206 

230,543 
225,827 
270,482 
255.548 

223,393 
222,822 
316^272 
258,688 
249,299 

284,345 
341,092 
358,560 
367,621 
326,974 
382,406 


INDEX. 


A. 


Adventism,  Injury  from,  58. 

Albany  Convention,  65,  68. 

Anli-Slaveiy,  46;   in  Oberlin,53. 

Association,  Muskinsjum,  25;  Lorain 
County.  49,  68  ;  Ohio  State,  69;  of 
the  Western  Reserve,  49,  66;  dis- 
banding of,  67. 

Austinburg  church,  organization  of. 
Errata,  VI;  26,  30. 


Fairchild,    President    J.    li.,    license 
refused  to,  51. 


Granville  church,  27. 
Growth  of  Congregationalism  in  Ohio 
in  twenty-five  years,  95. 


B. 


Badger,  Rev.  Joseph,  30,  41. 
Baptism,  Oberlin's,  was  it  valid?   52, 
Barr,  Rev.  Thomas,  42. 
Black  Swamp,  The,  33,  63. 


Indians,  war  with,  18;  departure   of, 
33. 

L. 


C. 


Chicago,  Strength  of  Congregational- 
ism in,  IV,  29. 

Chidlaw,  Rev.  R.  W.,  76. 

Cincinnati,  Founding  of,  25;  churches 
in,  27. 

Cleveland,  Founding  of,  21;  strength 
of  Congregationalism  in,  85. 

Congregationalism,  Principles  of,  i; 
for  what  it  stands,  3;  origin  and 
history  of,  5;  evolution  of  princi- 
ples of,  7;  growth  of,  II;  compar- 
ison of  with  other  denominations, 
84;  statistical  table,  95. 

Consociation,  The  Marietta,  49;  of 
Portage  and  Summit,  49,  68. 

Connecticut  Missionary  Society,  30, 
36,  38,  80. 

Consociated  Presbytery  of  New  Con- 
necticut, 43. 

Convention,  Albany,  65,  68;  Ecclesi- 
astical, of  New  Connecticut,  49. 

Counties  of  Ohio  without  Congrega- 
tional church,  85. 

Cowles,    Prof.    Henry,  V,  42,  54,  69. 


Lane  Seminary,  Exodus  of  students 
from,  51;  attitude  of  toward  Plan 
of  Union,  53. 

Land  Company,  The  Ohio,  2o;  The 
Scioto,  27. 

M. 

McConnellsville  church,  24. 
Marietta,  Founding  of,  20,  23. 
Michigan  City,  Convention  of,  46,  53. 
Moravians  in  Ohio,  15. 


N. 


Consoci- 


"New    Connecticut,"    21; 

ated  Presbytery  of,  43. 
Non-Congregational  area  in  Ohio,  85. 


O. 


Oberlin,  Founding  of,  51;  opposition 
to,  51;  work  of  for  Congregation- 
alism     in    Ohio,    53-5;    National 


98 


Index. 


Council    at,  65;   strength    of    Con- 
gre£;;ationalism  iii,  85. 
Ohio  Home  Missionary  Society,    Or- 
ganization of,  81,  90-4. 


Robbins,  Rev.  S.  P.,  24,  25. 
Rules  of  Practice,  58,  59. 


Paddy's  Run  church,  26,  76,  78. 

"Perfectionism,"  01ierlin,5i,  53,69. 

Pioneering  for  Congregationalism,  in 
south-east  Ohio,  23;  in  the  south- 
west and  central  portions,  27;  on 
the  Western  Reserve,  29;  in  the' 
north- west,  32. 

Plan  of  Union,  36;  how  it  came  to  be, 
37;  effects  of,  on  the  churches,  41, 
44;  on  the  ministers,  42;  abroga- 
tion of,  65. 

Presbytery,  of  Redstone,  41;  of  Ohio, 
41;  of  Erie,  41;  of  Hartford,  41; 
of  Grand  River,  43;  of  Portage,  43. 


R. 


Religious   life,    Early,    56;    effect   of 
Presbyterianism  on,  59. 


Schism  of  1837,  48,  49. 
Spiritualism,  Damage  from,  57. 
Statistical  Talile,  95. 
Story,  Rev.  Uaniel,  23. 
Synod  of  Western  Reserve,  43. 


Table,  Statistical,  95. 

Temperance,  Action  of  the  churches 

upon,  hi. 
Toledo,  Founding  of,  33,  34. 


W. 


Welsh  Churches,  in  Gomer;  in  Pal- 
myra, 76;   decay  of,  77. 

Western  Reserve,  First  settlement  of, 
21;  strength  of  Congregationalism 
on,  29,  86. 


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